Missile yobs cause motor misery

Posted:15th February 2012

Category:Van Insurance

Missile-throwing yobs are making the roads extremely dangerous up and down the country by launching attacks on motorists, newly released figures reveal.

Information obtained by Autoglass, following a Freedom of Information request, reveals that 10 English police forces recorded a total of 395 incidents of rocks, stones and other objects hitting moving vehicles last year.

The data highlights the particular dangers associated with driving under bridges after one county police force revealed that more than 50% of the attacks in its area involved objects being thrown down from above.

This problem could be a particular concern self-employed tradesmen, who not only have to worry about their van insurance, but also their livelihood if their vehicle needs extensive repairs.

Autoglass made the Freedom of Information request after there were two attacks on the A12 in December.

In one of these incidents, Lisa Horne, 26, managed to walk away unscathed when a rock the size of a football came through her windscreen, but in the other Carol Manley, 57, was not as lucky.

She suffered fractures to her ribs and face, as well as internal injuries, after a lump of concrete fell on her vehicle from a bridge.

Autoglass managing director Matthew Mycock said: "The alarming thing is that our findings are just the tip of the iceberg because they relate to only the reported incidents and there must be many more cases where drivers don't bother to alert the authorities."

He added: "We know from the experience of our own technicians that missile attacks are a growing problem and a recent Autoglass survey found that a quarter of motorists have had their vehicles hit by a missile of some sort in the last five years."

Despite these worrying figures, there has been a fall in this kind of crime compared to a similar study among nine police forces in 2010, which revealed their had been 457 attacks involving missiles.

Staveley Head is a leading provider of Van Insurance in the UK.

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