A WOMAN delivering copies of the BEN was shot at by an air rifle sniper as she was driving her car.

Barbara Taylor, of Carlton Street, was in Kildare Street, New Bury, at 4.20pm yesterday with her windows open when she felt a sudden pain in her right arm.

She believes someone shot at her with an airgun from a bedroom window. The 34-year-old woman, who has two daughters aged eight and 12, did not require hospital treatment for the wound, which swelled to the size of a five pence piece.

But she was badly shaken after the incident and fears what might have happened if her youngest daughter had been in the car.

Mrs Taylor, who was delivering the paper as a favour to her sister-in-law, reported the incident in case someone else is shot.

She said: "I feel like going up there in a tank today and will definitely keep my windows shut.

"The whole thing happened so quickly and I think the pellet might have dropped on the floor when I got out of the car because I couldn't find it. If my eight-year-old had been in the car it could have killed her because she would have been much lower down in the seat.

"It's just not the sort of thing you expect to happen."

A spokesman for Bolton police said they have interviewed Mrs Taylor and investigations into the incident were continuing.