A café boss now fears for his safety after he was attacked by skateboarding youths for the second time.

Bob Young, 50, who owns the As You Like It Café in Regent Arcade, East Street, Brighton, says he was surrounded by four youths when he tried to stop them smoking and skateboarding in the arcade on Wednesday.

CCTV shows one of the youths skateboarding into a decorative pot and smashing a hole in it.

Mr Young, of Withdean Court in Brighton, is then seen taking the skateboard from the youth before he is surrounded by a further three teenagers who try to take it back from him.

They eventually get the skateboard back and leave the arcade.

Mr Young, who suffers with ill health, phoned the police and asked the officers to drive him across the city to see if he could spot the youths.

He said: "I am recovering from a pulmonary embolism but I had to go back to work to help my partner because we had a death in the family.

"The cleaner said there had been trouble with kids and it was about lunch-time when this happened.

"I stepped in front of the teenager to stop him skateboarding and he shot off it and crashed into the urn.

"The kids were like hyenas in the way they gathered round me, pulling me and tugging me.

"I could not do anything.

The police are meant to protect me."

Mr Young said the youths threatened to come back and smash up his shop.

He later saw them in North Street after officers agreed to help him track down the teenagers.

However, he claims officers locked him in the police car for 15 minutes while they got out to speak to the youths.

Mr Young has since written a letter to Sussex Police complaining about the treatment.

He said: "I protested and was given no reason or answer as to why I should have been treated in such a manner.

"I started to panic because I am claustrophobic. I also suffer from a lung condition and this action made it almost impossible for me to breathe."

Last year, Mr Young ended up in court after he confronted thugs who were upsetting his customers.

During a confrontation with the thugs, he suffered bruising to his arm and was told he would be stabbed.

But it was Mr Young himself who faced assault charges.

He was cleared of any wrongdoing and magistrates said the case had been a waste of taxpayers' money.

A spokesman for Sussex Police said: "We aim to give a high level of service but if someone has a complaint there are procedures we can follow."