A 15-YEAR-OLD boy has been given an 18-hour attendance centre order for possessing a firearm in a public place.

The teenager pleaded guilty to the charge at Bolton Youth Court on Wednesday.

The court heard that last April, he and two friends had been using the air rifle to shoot cans and bottles at Daisy Hill railway station, Westhoughton.

Police were called to the scene following reports of two separate shooting incidents in which two First North Western workers were hit in the buttock and arm with pellets fired from an air rifle.

The conductors had just left trains which pulled into the station in Leigh Road, Westhoughton, when they were shot.

A woman who had been travelling on one of the trains also narrowly missed being hit by a pellet. When the police arrived and arrested the three youths they were in possession of an air rifle.

The court heard that the 15-year-old was not involved in the actual shooting of the guards and was not with his friends when it happened.

He pleaded guilty to the firearms offence and was given an 18-hour attendance centre order to be fulfilled at weekends. His father was ordered to pay £40 court costs.

Two other youths, one aged 15 and another aged 17, are also facing firearms and assault charges in connection with the incident. Their cases were adjourned until Wednesday, November 3.