A 32 year-old man was taken to the Royal Bolton Hospital after a smoke pellet pushed through his letter box started an asthma attack.

Fire crews were called after smoke filled the house on Aldercroft Avenue, Breightmet. Youths had pushed the pellet, which is used to test flues, through his door at 8.35pm yesterday.

The smoke shocked the man who suffers from asthma. Fire crews gave him oxygen until an ambulance arrived.