MINDLESS vandals shot out the window of a car just minutes before its owner and her young grandchildren were due to get in the vehicle.

Karen Sherman was preparing to leave her home with the tots - aged three and one - when she heard a sudden bang outside her home at Springwater Road, West Howe.

The 49-year-old then heard another huge crashing sound seconds later and rushed out from her house.

Vandals driving a silver Vauxhall Zafira had fired a BB gun at Ms Sherman's black Ford Focus which was parked on the road, shattering the rear window.

They then sped off and smashed into a red Fiat at the junction of Moore Avenue being driven by a pensioner.

The elderly woman was not injured but had been left severely shaken after the incident which took place on Friday afternoon.

"That dear old lady was traumatised," Ms Sherman said. "She spun 360 degrees. She was very, very shaken up. I called an ambulance for her and I waited with her until the police and ambulance came."

But Ms Sherman said she 'can't stop thinking' about what might have happened had her grandchildren been in the car.

She said: "They came past my car and shot the window out. At 2pm in the afternoon you don't expect anyone to go past your car and shoot the window out of it.

"If it was 10 minutes later my grandchildren would have been in the car. They didn't think who could have been in the car and it's all I can think about. If I'd have put those babies in that car, they wouldn't have known anyone was in there."

She said there were witnesses to the incident, including children in a nearby park.

A spokesperson for Dorset Police confirmed no arrests have yet been made following the incident in which the Vauxhall Zafira failed to stop. The driver is known to Ms Sherman.

"Damage was caused to one of the rear windows in the vehicle," the spokesman said. "It would appear that someone has shot at the window with a BB gun. Even though there was extensive damage no one was injured.

"Enquiries are ongoing."