A driver narrowly escaped death when a gunman's bullet passed through his temple, eye and nose before hitting his passenger in the leg, a Court heard.

And, after being blinded in one eye, Iqbal Singh raced his car across Bradford to escape his attackers, who tried repeatedly to ram him off the road, a jury was told.

Bradford Crown Court heard that Mr Singh had been driving along Leeds Road in Bradford on September 18 last year when his Toyota Carina was ambushed by a number of vehicles containing armed men.

Yesterday, seven of the alleged gang stood accused of his attempted murder along with that of his friend Kamuljit Singh, the injured passenger.

They are: Mohammed Bilal Sadiq, 21, of Upper Seymour Street, Bradford; Abdul Jabber Sadiq, 29, of the same address; Mohammed Zahid Rehman, 25, of St Paul's Road, Manningham; Abdul Rehman, 22, of the same address; Mohammed Babur Yaqoob, 25, of Derby Road, Thornbury; Aleem Ghani, 24, of Killinghall Road, Undercliffe, and Toseef Ahmed Khan, 20, of Rochester Street, Bradford. Yaqoob and Ghani face a further charge of conspiring to pervert the course of justice along with Sabir Khan, 30, of Warley Drive, Bradford, and Fazal Khan, 27, of Pearson Street, Laisterdyke.

They are alleged to have offered the victims up to £50,000 to drop the case as well as making threats against them.

Julian Goose, prosecuting, said: "The prosecution case against these defendants is that seven took part in a joint attack along with others on the occupants of a vehicle who they attempted to kill by ambushing them with several vehicles and with handguns threatening and shooting at them."

He said Mr Singh's car was forced to stop when it was "ambushed" by a number of cars including a blue green Rover and a maroon Peugeot.

One of the attackers, Mohammed Bilal Sadiq, aimed a handgun directly at Mr Singh's head and was encouraged to shoot by his brother Abdul Jabber Sadiq and another man, Nazir Khan, who police have not traced, said Mr Goose.

He said Sadiq shot directly at Mr Singh's head from close range with the bullet missing his brain "by a very narrow margin" and he added: "If he hadn't made a movement just before it is almost certain he would have died."

Mr Goose said Kamuljt Singh was also fortunate the bullet lodged in his leg rather than hitting a vital organ. Another Toyota passenger, Inderjit Singh, raced from the scene chased by gang members who fired a number of shots, the court heard.

The trial continues.