Five years of abuse from mobs of students have taken their toll on Tommy and Lina Ko. The Charlottetown couple have put the Noodle House restaurant up for sale, and they're leaving the province.

Students from two nearby schools have always tossed snowballs at the restaurant's windows as part of a lunch-time ritual that sees unruly kids wandering to University Avenue for a fast-food fix and some mischief.

The mobs have prompted complaint calls from other restaurants, and police have heard from pedestrians and motorists who've been hit with snowballs and have to dodge kids who walk into the middle of traffic.

FROM MARCH 29, 2005: Support overwhelms Chinese family's restaurant

In March, the mob mentality rose to a new level when a crowd of 200 students crowded around the Noodle House and started throwing snowballs at the Ko's small eating establishment.

When the owners and customers asked the youth to stop they were threatened.

The incident touched off a flurry of meetings with police, the school board and the Ko family.

Police say they have been taken steps to stop the unruly behaviour. But it has come too late for the immigrant family.

The Kos said they'll be moving to Toronto to be closer to family.

They're not ruling out a return to Prince Edward Island, adding if they do open another restaurant it will be far away from any Charlottetown schools.