Lucky escape after sandbag thrown from bridge on to lorry travelling on motorway

A lorry driver has had a lucky escape after a sandbag was thrown from a bridge over a motorway – smashing his windscreen and narrowly missing him.

Police said the incident took place on Halloween night on the M5 near Tewkesbury in Gloucestershire.

Shortly before 11pm the HGV driver was travelling on the southbound carriageway when he saw three teenagers standing on a bridge close to junction nine.

One of them threw a hessian sandbag at the lorry smashing through the windscreen, narrowly missing the driver and spraying sand all around the inside of the vehicle.

Police said the driver was left shocked by the incident but managed to retain control of the lorry and stop safely.

Pc Tim Griffiths, who is investigating the incident, said: “I’m appealing for the person responsible to come forward.

“I suspect this is probably the actions of someone out on Halloween with their friends, probably showing off and messing around, who thought it would be funny to throw the sandbag at the lorry, not thinking about the ramifications of their actions.

“I cannot stress in the most serious terms how dangerous it is to do such a stupid thing. The lorry driver could have been seriously hurt or even killed.

“If he had been rendered unconscious or had lost control of his lorry then we could easily have been dealing with serious injuries or fatalities.”

The driver described the three people standing on the bridge as being aged around 15 to 16 years old, quite short and all wearing dark clothing.

Police are appealing for witnesses to the incident to come forward.