A brave mum has revealed how she fought off armed carjackers as her son, three, sat in the back seat.
The 24-year-old woman said she had just pulled up in the road and was unloading her Audi SQ5 with her son in the back and friend in the front passenger seat when the terrifying incident unfolded.
A gang, armed with a crowbar, approached the vehicle in an attempt to steal it before the mum said she did "everything in her power" to stop them.
The drama happened in Moseley, Birmingham, at around 6pm on Friday, July 26.
Speaking about her harrowing ordeal, the mum said: "They didn't come out of nowhere, I'd noticed them in their car in the road just minutes before but didn't think anything of it.
"I don't know if they'd been following me, were waiting for me or if it was just random.
"But I was out of the car when three of them came rushing up to me with their faces covered.
"They had a crowbar and started shouting first at my friend to give them her handbag and to me screaming for the keys.
"My friend said she didn't have anything in her handbag so they turned to me screaming 'Give us the keys, give us the keys."
The woman, who is a full-time mum, said instinct then took over, reports Birmingham Live.
"Immediately my instinct was to protect the two people with me and I did everything in my power to do that," she said.
"They had a crowbar but weren't hitting me with it, and didn't have knives or guns so I thought, well if they were going to hit me they'd have done it by now.
"One of them had got into the car and was trying to start it and I shouted 'my son's in the car - leave him alone!
"The car wouldn't start and they were still screaming for the keys.
"I tried shutting the car door on the one who had got inside but he managed to move just before I could.
"So I moved away, put my handbag up against the wall and a plant pot and and sat on it so there was something between them and my keys.
"They had pushed my friend over and she was yelling at me to just give them the keys, but I said I can't because my baby's in the car.
"I kept thinking, if they were going to use that crowbar they would have by now so just sat there refusing to hand over the keys.
"I also knew that my friend had phoned the police and other people in the road had as well so I knew help wasn't very far away."
She said eventually the gang ran away and she rushed over to get her son out of the car.
"I figured they weren't professionals because they were only armed with a crowbar - if they'd meant business they'd have got knives or even a gun," she said.
The mum, who used to work in recruitment, said it was the second time in less than a year that thieves had targeted her and her partner's car.
In October 2018 both of their Audis had been stolen from the driveway of their home - and one of them had been later used in a ram raid and someone had been prosecuted over it.
"We've been told our Audis are very desirable by gangs and robbers because they're high speed and also very valuable for parts as well," she said.
"All our friends and family say to us, why don't you just check a cheaper car?
"My instinct is to do that, but then I think, why should we? They're our cars, we love them and worked hard for them."
The mum, who lives in the Moseley area, said she and her son were unharmed in the incident, but that he had been left traumatised by the ordeal.
"He 's always asking me, mum, are the bad men coming back? I tell him, no, they're in a cage and won't be coming back."
Police are still appealing for information about the attack to contact them on 101 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
