KICK-BOXING fans have told of their terror after their coach was attacked when fighting broke out between rival fans during an event on the Wirral.

A coach had travelled from Accrington to Tranmere Rovers FC to watch locally-based England champion Jason Curtis face French number one Jonathan Camara and his student and training partner Luke Hamer take on Dean Read of the Gladiators Thai Boxing Club, Birkenhead.

But things turned nasty between the two sets of fans when Luke beat Dean.

Marie Bulcock, who organised the coach, said that some of the Birkenhead fans became agitated when the group from Accrington began to chant.

She said: "Luke won his fight and all of his supporters were chanting 'Lukey Lukey'. Then some of Dean's supporters came over and started shouting at us, saying we were saying 'loser loser'."

Marie said several Accrington fans were hit as they tried to leave the premises and the coach was pelted with bottles and bricks, smashing all of the windows.

She added: "We ran onto the coach and they started throwing bottles and things and smashed the back and side windows.

"One of the bricks came through the window and hit one of our girls. The coach driver started to drive off and they were running after it chasing us. Everyone on the coach was scared."

The coach eventually made its way to a nearby police station but it was too badly damaged to make the return trip to Hyndburn so the supporters were ferried back in taxis.

Both Marie and Jason said that there had never been any trouble when they had visited Tranmere before.

Jason added: "It was a really bad situation and it could have got a lot worse. Half of the people on the coach were girls and none of them were troublemakers.

"All of this was happening when I was still inside. I came out to see the coach pulling out and started following it. I could see that all of the windows had been broken. We followed the coach to the police station."

Promoter Gary Richards, of Gladiators, said that a group of Birkenhead supporters had been provoked by fans from Accrington and things had got out of control.

He added: "When Dean was fighting he had something wrong with his back and could not carry on and a group of supporters started shouting 'loser'.

Nobody could believe it, they were shouting 'loser' when my lad was on the floor. It got out of hand and it went off with some of the Birkenhead lads fighting with some of the Accrington fans. All of the troublemakers got thrown outside.

"There has never been any trouble before this. Dean has fought Jason and been knocked out and there was no trouble with supporters."

Mr Richards said that he did not condone what had happened, adding: "These lads are not regular supporters. They are not Dean's mates and have no connection to the club."

Merseyside Police are looking into the incident.