Slab is thrown at train screen

A train driver narrowly escaped serious injury after a concrete slab was hurled at his cab windscreen as the engine hurtled through a Black Country town.

The block was thrown from a footbridge, in Bromley Street, Lye, as the London Midland train travelled from Kidderminster to Birmingham. It shattered the windscreen sending broken glass into the cab.

The driver, a 37-year-old from Tamworth, escaped the Monday-evening ordeal with only minor cuts to his arm.

British Transport Police officers have launched an investigation. Four youths were spotted by the driver on the footbridge seconds before one threw the slab.

CID officers are urging anyone who was in the area at around 7.30pm on Monday June 1 to contact them. They want to hear from anyone with information, especially two people walking their dogs in the area at the time.

DS Kaz Pitham, of the BTP, said: "We could easily be looking at another driver receiving serious injuries, or even worse – a fatality."