"FOR some reason when schools are out it is hunting season on taxis.

"When they throw bricks you can see the joy on their faces, they think it's great.

"They are like rats round here - they come off these roads and then go anywhere."

Taxi driver Malcolm Lake was returning home to Duxford Court, off Hilden Road, in Padgate, last Tuesday night for a quick break.

But as he came off the Hilden Place roundabout at 8pm, a gang of six yobs, aged between 13 and 15, hurled two concrete slabs at his cab.

The 49-year-old cabbie said: "I came round the corner and I saw them and you could tell by their body language they were going to do something.

"Another 10 inches higher and the slab would have come straight through my window.

"It is getting out of control. It won't be long until somebody has a serious accident.

"I could have been carrying passengers, somebody with a baby or kids."

The incident cost Mr Lake a night's takings and the damage to his wing mirror may cost up to £500 to repair.

He says these kinds of events are commonplace, with gangs roaming the road, just five minutes' walk from where Garry Newlove was murdered, and then disappearing into the nearby estates.

He said: "I work Friday and Saturday nights and I don't have this much trouble off anybody.

"I pick up drunks, idiots, all sorts, and very, very rarely do I have any trouble. I come home and I get a brick thrown at my car."

Mr Lake rang the police but was told not to challenge the gang.

He said: "She said don't confront them because you don't know what they are capable of.

"The parents say oh, Johnny is a good kid'. But is he really?

"If he had been one of mine he wouldn't be able to sit down for a week."

l A 16-year-old boy from Warrington has been arrested in relation to the offence on suspicion of criminal damage, threats to kill and theft. He has been bailed until March 5, pending further inquiries by the police.