RAIDERS armed with iron bars launched two car-jackings bids on pensioners in the space of 20 minutes.

And police have appealed to Pendle's underworld to help them solve the 'obnoxious' crimes.

On both occasions the pensioners refused to hand over their cars and the gang was left empty handed.

A 67-year-old woman was hit in the face with an iron bar after resisting the raiders in Brierfield.

She was taken to the Royal Blackburn Hospital for treatment for facial bruising and a severe cut across her nose.

Twenty minutes before that attack, a couple from Clitheroe managed to swerve around the gang and flee the scene in Brierfield after masked thugs struck the outside of their locked BMW with iron bars.

Det Insp Derek Jones, who is leading the hunt for the trio, has assigned a team of officers to track down the car-jackers.

Police are probing the gang's motive for the attack, but are at this stage ruling out the possibility they needed a getaway vehicle as they fled the scene of a crime.

He said: "I want to make an appeal to the public - and to the criminal fraternity - to help us arrest these men.

"This is an obnoxious offence, targeting elderly motorists who were simply going about their lawful business."

The first incident happened at 10.20pm on Wednesday.

A couple, aged 65 and 64, were returning from a bridge night and were making their way along Clitheroe Road, and under the M65 down Cuckstool Lane, Brierfield, when a white saloon pulled across their path.

Three masked men got out of the car, armed with iron bars.

The trio demanded that the couple got out their vehicle and struck the side of the BMW with the bars.

But the driver refused, locked the BMW's door and managed to swerve around the car, and the men, and flee towards their home in the Clitheroe area.

The second would-be car-jacking happened around 20 minutes later.

Three men in a white saloon car, thought to be a Ford Mondeo, had pulled to a halt in front of the victim's black Toyota Yaris in Halifax Road.

One man, wearing a black hooded top, got out and shouted at her to get out of the car.

She refused and sounded the car's horn repeatedly.

He then opened the driver's door and gave her a glancing blow with the bar before they fled.

DI Jones is keen to hear from anyone who has seen the Ford Mondeo, acting suspiciously in the Brierfield and Nelson areas.

The raiders were Asian and in their 20s. People with any information about either incident, or the white Mondeo, are asked to ring Pendle CID on 01282 472644 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.