Two men attacked by gangs throwing snowballs at cars in Ormskirk

Jan 24 2013 by Rob Pattinson, Ormskirk Advertiser

A 64-YEAR-OLD was punched in the face by a teenager after confronting a gang of youths hurling snowballs at cars.

It was the first of two attacks on the same day on people trying to stop yobs from targeting motorists driving along County Road in Ormskirk.

The 64-year-old was walking home along the road at around 2pm on January 18 when he saw a group of around 16 teenagers throwing snowballs at passing cars near to the BP garage.

He went over to tell them to stop and was punched twice in the face by one of the group, who was around 14 years old, leaving him with a swollen eye. The teenager was described as being around 5ft 2in tall, slightly built and he spoke with a Liverpool accent. He was wearing black clothing and a black hat.

Later that after- noon, a 48-year-old man was driving down County Road at 4.30pm when his car was hit by a snowball thrown from a group at the side of the road. He stopped the car to confront the group, who were all in their late teens or early 20s. But another group then approached, and one of them accused the driver of picking on the youths and punched him twice in the face, splitting his lip.

The attacker was white, around 22, 6ft tall with curly ginger hair. He was wearing a black woolly hat, a red and black North Face jacket and black jeans.

PC Cooper, from West Lancs police, said: “It may seem like great fun to throw snowballs at passing vehicles but I ask that these youths think about the dangers involved..”

“Although the actions of the victims are admirable I would ask members of the public to think twice about challenging others .”