A GANG armed with a shotgun abushed a driver and stole his car after blocking Stourton road with traffic cones.

The attack, which is the latest in a number of similar incidents in the area, took place at around 2am on Thursday February 21.

The gunman approached Richard Lock, a retained firefighter, after emerging from bushes near the Oak Farm turning on the A449 close to the Stewpony.

Mr Lock, aged 40, from Blakebrook in Kidderminster, described how he halted his Ford Focus short of the cones and, spotting another car stopped on the opposite side of the road, asked its male driver whether it was clear on his side. He replied it was.

Mr Lock, a father-of-two got out of his car, leaving the engine running and the door open and began moving the cones.

Four men he described as Asian in appearance and wearing hooded tops, sprang from bushes at the roadside and headed for his car.

One of them rushed Mr Lock, pulling a sawn-off shotgun from his top and aiming it straight at the firefighter's head, telling him to "back off".

Mr Lock, said: "I froze. Then he backed off and jumped in my car.

"I ran to grab the driver's side door and they drove the car straight at me, tried to mow me down."

The car contained his fire alert pager, mobile phone, fire station keys and a key to his Worcester workplace.

Mr Lock was left standing in the road while the thieves drove off towards Kidderminster in his car.

There was no sign of the other driver who had stopped at the road block, yards from the Oak Farm turning.

He spent valuable time trying to flag down occasional passing cars and lorries but without luck.

Mr Lock then ran to the Stourton traffic lights near the Stewponey development and got a lift to a pay phone in Kinver where he called the police at about 3.30am.

The firefighter said officers had told him car-jackings had happened "several times" before on the same road.

Peter Bate, Staffordshire police spokesman, said: "Officers were deployed to the scene, including a firearms team.

"This is quite a rare crime, although there have been similar incidents, and we're treating it seriously."

Witnesses or anyone with information is asked to call Cannock CID's DC Clare Davenport on 08453 302010 or Crimestoppers, on 0800 555111.