A woman car insurance worker has told how her life was ruined by armed robbers as she drove her five-year-old son to school.
The woman, known as Liz, has kept her real identity hidden for fear of reprisals, but has told reporters of her ordeal in the hope that her assailants can finally be found and locked up.
Her nightmare began in the Warwickshire rush hour traffic as she sat waiting at traffic lights at the wheel of her black Vauxhall Astra. Suddenly, four masked men, one armed with a lethal sawn-off shotgun, leapt from the car in front, pulled open Liz's door and dragged her headfirst into the road.
As the men sped away in her vehicle, the terrified motor insurance worker managed to grab her son by the hood of his coat and haul him clear, narrowly avoiding them both being run over by the escaping robbers. Shocked passers-by came to the distraught mum's aid and the police were called.
Recalling her ordeal, a quivering Liz said, "I looked out of my windscreen and there were four of five blokes standing in front of my car. One held his arm up and was effing and blinding for me to get out of the car, screaming at me.
"I got scared straight away because they were in front of my car and they had balaclavas on and, at this point, I realised he had a sawn-off shotgun and was pointing it at me."
It later transpired that the four men had robbed a petrol station only minutes before, damaging their car in the process, and so were looking for a getaway vehicle. Liz just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
She has since attempted to return to her job at her Coventry car insurance company, but found the whole experience too traumatic and is now unable to work. She said, "I can't sleep. I am scared to leave the house, I am scared to go outside my front door, I am scared if someone knocks on the door and I'm scared of taking my son to school in case something happens."
Police are still searching for the armed car-jackers.