Thugs target trucks with flying concrete
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. by Pete Swingler
Hauliers in the West Midlands are being targeted by thugs throwing lumps of concrete and bricks from a footbridge across a new bypass.
Several drivers have narrowly avoided serious injuries this month after their vehicles were struck by the missiles from a pedestrian bridge across the Dudley town bypass at Cinder Bank.
Freelance driver Tony Mason of Wood Street, Rowley Regis, near Dudley, says he and his passenger were the latest to escape serious Injury when a lump of concrete smashed the windscreen and narrowly missed them at 17:45hrs last Wednesday (17 Jan). "I had gone underneath the bridge before the island at Cinder Bank when I saw something fly into the windscreen of my seven-tonne lorry," says Masan. The windscreen shattered and I quickly pulled over to find several lumps of concrete lying around.
"We were lucky not to have been seriously injured or killed—I was left shaken for quite some time. Ill had been in a normal ear I dread to think what would have happened. I want other lorry drivers to be on the alert for these hooligans because sooner or later someone is going to get killed.'' Mason says he saw three youths running from the bridge and climbing over a fence shortly after the incident. He says he reported the incident to the police and called an Dudley Council to take steps to protect drivers.
A pollee spokesman says there have been a spate of incidents in recent weeks involving youths dropping concrete and bricks from the footbridge onto vehicles.
"Lorries appear to be the main targets because they are so big and apparently easier to hit," says the spokesman. "We are now keeping a close watch on the footbridge but drivers [should] keep on their guard."
The bypass was opened nearly two years ago to take heavy traffic out of Dudley town centre.