THIS is the painful injury caused by yobs who fired stones and ball bearings at vehicles as they travelled along the A14.

THIS is the painful injury caused by yobs who fired stones and ball bearings at vehicles as they travelled along the A14.

Grandmother Diana Compton, 64, was hit in the eye and could now face an operation after the mindless antics of the stone-throwing youths.

Mrs Compton was travelling in one of at least three vehicles which were damaged at around 4.30pm on Tuesday as they passed the Asda turn-off in Ipswich heading in the direction of Bury St Edmunds.

Police are now searching for the two youngsters who fired the pellets and stones, possibly from an air riffle or catapult, and put people's lives at risk.

Nigel Compton, of Steward Road, Bury St Edmunds, was driving along with his mother in the passenger seat and his three young children in the back of the car when a stone smashed the passenger window and damaged his mother's eye.

He said: “If the stone had hit the back window it could have seriously damaged the boys and if it smashed the windscreen then I would have lost vision of the road and we could have crashed.

“Shortly before it happened I saw a little Jack Russell dog on the side of the road. I was worried about it running into the path of an on-coming car and my initial thoughts were that someone had thrown the stone to distract the dog away from the traffic.

“It was only later I realised the stone had intentionally been thrown at the car. I can't understand why these youngsters would want to endanger lives in their games. Why couldn't they just fire away from the traffic?”

His mother, Diana Compton, said: “We were just driving along and there was a big bang. Glass went everywhere, all over me.

“My eye is very bruised and we went to the hospital where doctors checked for any glass in my eye. It has all been very scary and shocking.”

Stephen Sparrow, a HGV crane driver, was also passing on the road at the time and his windscreen was struck and cracked by what is believed to be a pellet fired from an air gun.

He said: “Something caught my eye and I looked over to the left. It was kids running in a field.

“As I got level with them I noticed a young lad with a gun. He fired it and I heard a loud bang. It hit my windscreen.

“I pulled up in a lay-by and there was a lorry already there which had also been hit.”

Anyone with information about the incidents should call Pc Tim Trott at Ipswich police on 01473 613500 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.