Children as young as 11 have been blamed after a terrified mum had a stone smashed off her car windscreen as she drove.
Northumbria Police officers were called after teenagers threw the makeshift missile at her car near the Matalan store in Killingworth.
"I got such a fright," claimed the mum, who asked not to be named.
"Nine out of ten times I would have my kids in the car. Thankfully they were not this time, but if I had, I could easily have lost control and crashed."
The incident unfolded at the North Tyneside retail park on Saturday night.
The mum added: "Somehow the windscreen didn't break, but I don't know how.
"The stone was really big - it was about the size of my thumb."
She claimed the culprits were lurking "behind the bushes" on their bikes in the car park, and were aged between 11 and 14 years old.
A Northumbria Police spokesperson said: "At about 7.20pm (April 6), police received a report of children throwing stones at vehicles in the Matalan car park, Killingworth.
"Officers attended the scene but the suspects had left prior to police arrival.
"A search was carried out in the area however, no suspects were located."
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