The old stripped car bodies that were left around the communal yard... One of my clear memories involved that. Back in the late 60s, myself and a pal (can't remember who now) were out by the road through the archway - throwing small sods of turf at passing cars (as you do/did of course)... then a plain VW Beetle suddenly stops, so we run... only to be pursued by two burly policemen. Cue run into the yard and hide, thinking "safe here". Upon being quickly found by the big sergeant - I remember getting a clip around the ear, then carried by the scruff of the neck to our door, and when my father answered he got asked "Is this yours?". Cue a hiding from my father also - deservedly so in the circumstances.
Oh they were the days
You have reminded me of a similar incident. One hot day in the summer holidays, six of us, I guess we were aged about nine or ten, were on Hodge Hill Common alongside the Coleshill Road. We were throwing handfuls of sand at the passing vehicles (as you said "as you do/did").
A lorry suddenly stopped. We all scarpered, and I ran the furthest. The driver questioned each of us in turn and of course, each said "No, not me", until he got to me. So it had to be me.
My father had to pay something like £3.17s.6d (probably a fair bit of his weekly wage) for a new windscreen which the driver said we had cracked. (I think he was a Chancer and it was already cracked).
Dad went around trying to get something from the other dads -- I think only two paid something. I don`t remember getting a thrashing, but then, I got them fairly regularly anyway.
Mike[size=78%] [/size]