A BOLTON doctor whose surgery is "under siege" by vandals has vowed to chase and catch the young thugs himself.

Marathon-runner Dr Stuart Shaw now comes to work in his tracksuit and trainers so he can chase and catch the yobs who make life at Tonge Moor Health Centre a misery.

And the youngsters, some thought to be as young as nine, have also targeted an old people's home and fired an air rifle at a nearby church.

Dr Shaw says he has had enough of the youngsters who, in the last month, have threatened staff and patients with golf clubs and bricks,

thrown bricks at windows while doctors treat patients inside, vandalised cars belonging to staff and patients and trapped people inside the surgery by jamming the door.

The doctor, who has run the London Marathon in two hours and 45 minutes, said: "The trouble has got so bad it is now intolerable. So I have decided to come to work prepared now and do surgery dressed in my tracksuit and trainers.

"Then if we get another incident I will catch up with them and take them to the police."

He added: "We have trouble every evening after school finishes. They are throwing bricks and stones at the window, which is disconcerting when someone is telling you their innermost secrets.

"We have also had staff cars damaged, graffiti daubed on the walls, fireworks thrown at the centre and, of course, verbal abuse.

"One of our practice nurses was threatened by a boy with a glass bottle after she told him off for jumping up and down on her car bonnet."

He added: "The police are obviously stretched and by the time they arrive the kids have long disappeared.

"We have already got so much security at the centre that it feels like we are under siege."

Another frightened staff member at the Thicketford Road surgery said: "It has gone beyond childish behaviour -- it has now become nasty and violent. "They have put a golf club through the door handles to keep everybody in, which could have been very dangerous if there had been a fire.

"It is like something out of a horror film. It is getting dark earlier now and the staff are frightened."

The young yobs have also targeted the Thicketford Community Care Centre for old people, St Augustine's Church and the Tonge Ward Labour Club.

Church Warden Ivor Smith said: "There are about 15 of these youngsters and it always seems to be the same faces.

"They have broken two windows at the church, one with an air rifle pellet and the other with a brick and they have also broken windows at the vicarage next door."

And a spokesman for Bolton Council, which runs old people's home Thicketford Road Community Care Centre, confirmed it too had come under attack from the stone-throwing thugs.

He added: "We have contacted the police and they do respond but we realise that they are also very busy."