A 35-YEAR-OLD man was attacked and beaten by a gang of young thugs who turned on him after he challenged them about breaking into his van outside his house.

One police officer likened the youths to "vultures circling" their victim as they carried out the savage attack.

Police said the gang of 20 teenagers was seen interfering with the man's Transit van outside his home.

When the man went to check his van, one youth wearing a hooded top over his head punched him to the ground.

As the man got up, another ran at him and hit him in the face with a stick before a third smashed a glass bottle over the back of his head.

Throughout the attack, outside the man's home in Grangetown, near Middlesbrough, the gang continued to rifle the van and try to steal items.

The gang fled when police arrived.

The youth who attacked the man with the stick is said to be only 13 and the other two are aged 14 to 17.

A police spokesman said: "This was a vicious, nasty attack on a man simply trying to protect his property, which is vital to his livelihood.

"CCTV footage shows the pack mentality of these teens, acting like vultures circling the man and attacking him.

"Luckily he escaped with cuts and bruises, but looking at the brutality of the attack it could have been a lot worse."