I ATTENDED the final of the UK Snooker Championship just before Christmas. Upon leaving the Barbican, I was walking at the end of Kent Street toward Fulford when I heard the sound of a racing engine behind me.

The vehicle approached at speed, and the next thing I heard was a shout of glee and a loud thud.

What happened, was a mindless thug had thrown a full bottle of coke out of the passenger window, which missed me by inches.

Had this bottle hit any part of my anatomy, it would have caused serious injury. As the vehicle passed me, the perpetrator poked his head out of the passenger window to enjoy the aftermath, and I saw that he was aged around 20. I reported the incident to the police, as I am worried that this is another new trend.

It got me thinking, though. This chap was conceived around the end of the Thatcher era - the era that decimated out country's industry, and that has spawned this "chav" culture that is undermining respect and law and order.

Just think, in another 20 years they will be our management, our lawmakers, our politicians.

Frightening thought, isn't it?

James Taylor, Ponderosa Caravan Park, Sutton-on-the-Forest.