I've an air rifle to deal with squirrels in the loft (too canny for traps and poison) and super rats (gobble poison for laughs) that cause problems at the bottom of the garden. The legals are quite involved - an air rifle over 16.2J energy requires a firearms certificate; you'd struggle to buy an air rifle from a reputable UK dealer over this limit and justify the requirements to plod. A rifle at the legal limit will still send a .177 pellet at close to the speed of sound, and a .22 will be slower but tends to carry more energy. If I'm plinking in the garden, .177 pest control pellets will go a cm or so into solid wood at 10m. The recommended maximum range for a kill is about 30m if your aim is good enough (mine isn't).
In England it's illegal to use an air rifle within 50ft of the centre of a public highway, which includes footpaths. Also, it's illegal for a pellet to cross into a property where you don't have permission to shoot, accidental or not. Scarier still, if you enter private property without permission carrying an air rifle then you can be guilty of armed trespass, a very heavy criminal offence. In this instance, the law makes no distinction between air weapons and full-blown guns. There are also rules about supervision for under 18's.
Interesting information that.
From what you are saying it probably wasn't a high powered air rifle of the type you are describing, if it were youths involved they probably couldn't have bought such a weapon. I wasn't there and can't say from what range it was fired. The pellet certainly stopped at the bone of his knee joint (i saw the wound). There is no permenant damage as far as i can tell.
My thoughts are that is was a youth probably 'egged on' by another who thought it would be funny to try to hit his tyres....but missed.
In hindsight, i guess he should have possibly followed them and to try and get a positive description of them, but i think it was only after he carried on home the seriousness of what happened sunk in. By that time they had gone. There were more than a few people around at the time and yes, it's a public place. I know it's a rare thing to happen, but i doubt i'll be cycling around that area again.
Should have called 999 and said he'd been shot.....then wait for the armed response team to arrive....lol
Anyhow, i'll see him Monday and find out the latest.