A DRIVER narrowly escaped serious injury after a brick smashed through his windscreen yesterday afternoon.

A youth hurled the brick off the Halstead footbridge on the A12, landing on a VW panel van at 3pm.

Three or four children were seen by the driver on the bridge, which is located just after Spring Lane but before the Stanway junction heading South. Luckily the driver was not harmed.

Police put in a rolling road block on the A12 to allow officers to recover any evidence. Scenes of crime officers searched the bridge and the surrounding area was made, but no suspects were found.

A spokesman for Essex Police said: “This is a very serious crime, which this time luckily did not result in any injuries. However, it could very easily have resulted in serious injuries or even death. We will make every effort to find and bring to justice those young people who did this, not least to deter anyone else from doing something so very, very stupid and dangerous.”

Anyone who saw anything, or who knows anything about this, should contact Dc Steve Clarke or his colleagues at Colchester on 101, or you can leave information anonymously with Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.