EAST Lancashire celebrity Ted Robbins made an emotional plea after his teenage daughter was pelted with eggs and said: Please stop attacking my children.' The radio and TV star vowed to take a stand against yobs following an unprovoked attack on his 15-year-old daughter Molly, in Crawshawbooth.

Mr Robbins said it was the sixth time he had called the police to report attacks on his family since they moved to the village from Stacksteads 12 months ago.

The Phoenix Nights star said he thought part of the reason for the attacks could be that he was a celebrity.

He also hit out at the cancer' of anti-social behaviour he said was spreading throughout East Lancashire and said he would take to the streets to stop it.

In the latest incident he said a group of youths shouted vicious abuse and threw eggs at Molly, a Bacup and Rawtenstall Grammar pupil, as she stood waiting at a bus stop outside the Black Dog pub on Burnley Road at 7pm on Thursday.

He said: "I'm a reasonable man, but I'm now getting to the point where I'm losing that sense of reason because of what keeps happening.

"Six months ago my son Jack and his cousin were assaulted, Molly has been spat at in the street, and both of them have had cigarettes thrown at them on the bus, and generally been given foul verbal abuse, and I refuse to put up with it any longer.

"The sad irony is that we moved to the area because we thought it would be easier for the kids to get the bus, but it's turned out to be a curse.

"Unfortunately I think Molly and Jack get targeted some of the time because of who their dad is, even though I do all I can to put something back into the community.

"But this doesn't just happen to us. It's an endemic problem and every town has its problem areas which are fast becoming no-go zones'.

"There's a cancer across Lancashire that's not being addressed, and I know I'm not alone in being sick and tired of nothing being done, as it's just getting worse and worse.

Mr Robbins, who lives with his wife Judy, 16-year-old Jack and Molly, said: "These youths don't need a hug, they need discipline, and I suspect that zero tolerance is the only way to do it, I'm sick of people just doing a lot of talking. What we need is action, not ASBOs.

"This terrible situation has been brought on by political correctness, but now the police's arms have to be untied."

He praised the efforts of PCs Martin Gallagher and Ian Pickles, who "work tirelessly to do an enormously difficult job, but there's only so much they can do because of the law.

He said youngsters had no fear because they knew nothing would happen to them: "Are we just going to wait until someone gets stabbed?"

He said: "When I mentioned what happened to Molly on my radio show so many rang in to say how disgusting it was. People are sick to death of it.

"It's the sheer nastiness of it all that breaks my heart. The behaviour of these people is frightening for anybody, but especially a 15-year-old girl who has been left very upset by what happened.

"My fear is that as a father I have a well of rage in me that I have to control, but how long will it be before something flips?

"I am happy to be part of a vanguard of people in this country to get this dealt with, I will gladly lend my name to it, and if it means patrolling the streets myself then I will."

Rawtenstall police confirmed that an investigation into the incident on Thursday had been launched.