AGGRESIVE youths have been blamed for two alarming incidents in Swindon last week.

Members of the public were left scared as teenagers used threatening behaviour towards them in two unrelated encounters.

On Thursday, February 16, at around 11.15pm, a couple were driving home along Torun Way South in North Swindon when they came across a man being threatened by a group of ‘kids’.

The youths had been riding motor bikes without plates along the pavement when they were asked to stop doing so by the lone man.

The three-strong gang, who were wearing hoods with scarves around their faces, surrounded the man who was walking home from the Tawny Owl pub.

He frantically waved down a passing car and fortunately, the occupants stopped to help.

The group fled but not without leaving their victim very shaken by the experience.

Police say the man was assaulted but did not sustain any lasting injuries.

Two of the group are described as between 16 and 21 years old while the third appeared to be just 12.

Officers would like to hear from anyone who may information about the attack.

In an unrelated incident last Sunday, a lone woman had to rely on the intervention of another stranger as she was confronted by yobs while in her car in the town centre.

The woman was waiting by Debenhams at 2pm when two youths, aged between 14 and 15, began to shout obscenities at her through the window.

One of the youths opened the rear door of the car and climbed inside during what was a terrifying encounter for the lone driver.

She remained calm and persuaded the youth to get out of the car but even when outside the pair continued to punch the window and kick the door for no apparent reason.

Luckily, a passing couple spotted what was going on and stopped to see if she was alright.

One of them placed himself between the car and the yobs while the driver, still inside the car, tried to phone the police.

She took to social media that evening in an effort to identify those who had come to her aid, “I really would like to thank this couple,” she wrote.

“I am unsure how this would have ended had they not intervened.”

A spokesman for Wiltshire Police said: “We were called to a verbal argument between a member of the public and two males – no criminal offences were caused.”