Man hurt as concrete block dropped on car

A motorist spoke today of his lucky escape after a concrete slab was dropped onto his car from a bridge.

Callum Jackson, 23, from Worcester, said it was "as though a firework had gone off" as the block smashed through the front window of his Mitsubishi pick-up truck on the A442 in Telford, Shropshire.

He criticised the "animalistic" behaviour of the yobs responsible, who are thought to have dropped the slab from the Stafford Road bridge at 10pm last night.

Callum was left badly shaken following the incident, and said he was lucky to escape the incident with just bruised ribs.

He said: "I was driving back from university just after 9pm, it was quite a dark dual carriageway, and the next thing I knew there was a big bang and a concrete block was in the car.

"It was as though a firework had gone off in the car, it was horrendous.

"A couple of inches to the side and it would have hit me. It instantly dawned on me how lucky I had been.

"It is unbelievable. I presume it was kids, but the only word that springs to mind is 'animalistic'.

"It is beyond belief."

Callum, who is in his fourth year of an agriculture course at Harper Adams University, added: "It could have gone so wrong, it could have been really nasty.

"I can't remember much of it but I must have looked in my mirror and pulled over because I got onto a grass verge and called 999.

"I was actually on my hands-free talking to my mum when it happened.

"Obviously things got a bit frantic at her end. I just said, in between a lot of shouting and swearing, 'a block has got into the car, I've got to go'."

West Mercia Police have launched an appeal for witnesses to the incident and are keen to speak to a lorry driver who was on the road at the same time who may have witnessed the incident.

Officers are also examining CCTV footage to identify any possible suspects.

Chief Inspector Keith Gee, from West Mercia Police, said: "Throwing anything, especially concrete blocks, at passing vehicles is an extremely dangerous practice and could result in a serious road traffic collision and of course death.

"The driver on this occasion was extremely lucky he was not injured more severely and that he was able to keep control of his vehicle. It was also extremely lucky that there were no passengers in the car."

The incident comes after blocks were thrown onto two separate cars on a stretch of road in Essex in December last year.

Police are still investigating the incidents, which happened on the A12.

Carol Manley, 57, suffered severe facial and chest injuries when a bucket-sized piece of concrete was dropped onto her vehicle as she drove along the road with her husband, Steve.

The pair were hit just 40 minutes after mother-of-two Lisa Horne, 26, escaped unharmed when a rock the size of a football smashed onto her windscreen.

The incidents happened at West Hanningfield Bridge near Galleywood, and Fryerning Lane bridge at Ingatestone.

PA