A CHAUFFEUR had a miraculous escape when two teenage thugs hurled a rock at his car as he drove along the M3 near Winchester.

Robin Shale, 43, was left severely shaken after his windscreen exploded and he had to fight to keep control of his vehicle.

Police are now urging any witnesses to come forward to prevent any future attacks, which could ultimately cost lives.

Mr Shale was approaching junction nine on the southbound carriageway of the M3 in his metallic blue Mercedes when the shocking incident occurred.

He said: "I noticed up ahead that there were a couple of lads standing on the verge of the hard shoulder but I didn't pay any attention because you see a lot of people who have broken down. As I got closer I noticed one of them going into a throwing action out of the corner of my eye. It happened so quickly and then my whole windscreen went."

Mr Shale had been travelling from his home in South Ham near Basingstoke to pick up a family who had just returned from a cruise at Southampton docks.

Luckily for him the main impact, which shattered both panes of glass in his windscreen, was on the passengerside.

The chauffeur, who drives 80,000 miles a year, immediately managed to pull on to the hard shoulder and saw the teenagers scrambling up the embankment in his rear-view mirror.

They rushed for the cover of thick trees at the top of the verge.

"It made my heart skip a few beats that's for sure. You hear so much about these sorts of incidents happening on the M3 but you never think it will happen to you. I feel very lucky.

"It could have been two lads larking about but this is not a laugh and a joke, especially when aiming at traffic doing 80-90mph. These kids probably went home and had lunch with their parents as normal, but if they've done it once they could do it again. The sooner they are stopped the better."

The split-second incident meant Mr Shale did not get a good look at the boys but he believes they were white, aged 14-16, 5ft 6-8, wearing black jackets and jeans.

Police are still searching CCTV footage from the incident which took place on Sunday, January 11 between 10-10.30am.

DC Steve Deeprose, of Winchester CID, said: "If anybody saw the incident or saw lads hanging around on the hard shoulder please get in touch. We also want to hear from anybody who thinks that it might have happened to them."