The yobs hurled lumps of brick and concrete at the car as it reached a set of traffic lights in Blackman Avenue, near Oxford Road, on Saturday afternoon. The missiles almost smashed the windscreen and caused the petrified nurse to miss her next appointment.

Sue Marsh, 57, had just finished one home visit and was on her way to see a new patient when the tearaways struck. She recalled: "I was driving slowly because I was looking out for the house number. I saw a group of four or five youths in their early teens standing on the pavement and one stepped out in front of my car.

"The next thing I knew a lump of concrete had hit the windscreen on the passenger side.

"I couldn't believe it. My first reaction was to duck because I thought the glass might smash. Then I locked the doors because I didn't know what they were going to do next.

"I couldn't really see anything out of the windscreen and the car was getting hit by more missiles, including bricks and other bits of concrete."

A stunned Miss Marsh then stopped her car - which by now had a host of huge dents in bonnet and a windscreen it was all but impossible to see through. As soon as she did, her cowardly attackers fled the scene.

Miss Marsh continued: "I just sat there for a few minutes in shock. Not one person came over to see if I was alright.

"I went back to the hospice and my colleagues said I was white as a sheet and wobbling. We called the police but they said they would not come and look at the car because there would be no forensic evidence."

Hastings Police did send out a patrol car to look for the youths but as of yet no arrests have been made.

Miss Marsh, who miraculously escaped from the attack unscathed, was just thankful it hadn't ended more seriously. She said: "This could have led to a serious accident. Imagine if an old elderly person had been driving or someone with a weak heart - it could have really ended badly.

"They might have swerved off the road and into a pedestrian. Someone could have died.

"This was just mindless vandalism. The scary thing is there are young people out there who don't just don't think about the consequences of behaving like this."

A spokesman for Hastings Police said they would be sending out officers to nearby home to try and track down the culprits.

Anyone with information should contact the police on 0845 60 70 999 and quote serial 838 of the 02/08/2008.