A LIVERPOOL schoolboy was nearly run over by a vicious gang who stole a sports car at gunpoint.

The four crooks jumped the driver of the Audi RS4 and hit him with a wheel brace so they could steal his car from the industrial back streets on the edge of the city centre yesterday.

The gang dragged a passenger from the silver quattro convertible at gunpoint and hit him over the head with the butt.

The victims were getting into the car in Bridgewater Street, off Jamaica Street, at around 4.50pm when a Japanese saloon screeched into the small car park, blocking their path.

The driver was knocked to the floor, the gang grabbed the keys and then sped off in both vehicles.

Both were seen tearing up Upper Parliament Street in rush-hour traffic and were spotted again soon after on Aigburth Road and Queens Drive in Mossley Hill.

With traffic at a standstill on Queens Drive, heading from Mossley Hill toward Allerton Road, the gang drove over a grass verge and on to the pavement near the junction with Dovedale Road.

The Audi drove down the pavement followed closely by the second car.

One eye witness told the ECHO: “I was walking and heard a car revving behind me which I thought was strange because the traffic was going nowhere.

“I turned around to see an Audi crawl over the grass and on to the pavement followed by another car.

“Then both of them drove down the pavement. It was just mad.

“I stepped back but there was a schoolboy walking with his back to it and as the cars got near, they beeped him to get out of the way.

“If he hadn’t heard them they would have just taken him out.”

The two cars muscled their way back into the queue on Queens Drive before heading into Allerton.

The thugs were white, thought to be in their 20s, spoke with local accents and all wore dark clothing, balaclavas and hoods.

The victims was treated at the scene by paramedics but did not need to go to hospital.

Police today said they were following up “a number of positive leads” and had collected good forensic evidence from the scene.

THE ECHO