'You will kill someone' - Stark warning from victim and police after more items thrown off bridge over A45

More incidents of items being thrown off a bridge over the A45 in Daventry have been reported – and this time they come with a stark warning from a victim and police.

Between 7.30pm and 8pm on Friday (February 2), two cars were hit by items – believed to be bricks – on separate occasions, after the items were thrown off the ‘Curly Whirly’ bridge over the A45, close to Staverton Road.

A post by police officers on Northamptonshire Talking said “youths” were seen “dressed in dark clothing throwing stones/bricks and other items at moving traffic, causing considerable damage to theses vehicles”.

Following the incident, one of the drivers whose car was hit spoke to this newspaper. He described how the brick hit his car where the windscreen wipers meet and how he was “lucky” that it did not hit elsewhere. He fears he might not be here to tell the tale if it had.

The driver, who wishes to remain anonymous, said: “It made a massive bang. My son jumped out of his skin.”

He also said that he is “angry” about the repeated incidents as he feels like nothing is being done to prevent it happening again, adding “does someone have to die before anything is done?”

Last month, this newspaper published a police appeal regarding “repeated" dangerous incidents on the same bridge, including fire extinguishers being thrown. It is thought that fire extinguishers and the bricks were taken from a nearby building site, which has led the affected driver to ask about increased security at the site. He also wanted to know if anything was being done to speak to young people in the area about the dangers, whether a CCTV camera could be installed on the bridge and if the footbridge even needed to be open.

In response, Northamptonshire Police said officers are liaising with the building site and that “longer-term” solutions are being looked at.

A spokeswoman for the force said: “We completely understand the community concern surrounding this issue and we want to reassure people that the local Neighbourhood Policing Team has been working hard to both prevent and detect offences.

“This work has involved liaison with the building site with a view to improving security and there are now security guards and dogs on patrol to deter potential offenders from breaking in.

“We have also been conducting house-to-house enquiries in the local area and issuing media appeals to encourage anyone with information to come forward. This has resulted in some names being put to us but unfortunately no one has, as yet, wanted to make a formal statement.

“Longer-term solutions are also being looked at as well and work is ongoing with the council and highways to see what structural changes could be made to the bridge to decrease the likelihood of objects being thrown off it.

“Finally, our message to the young people doing this is that if you carry on - you will kill or seriously injure someone. This isn’t a game. You are playing with the lives of innocent people and if something happens, you could end up going to prison for a long time.”

Anyone with information about the incidents from Friday is asked to call police on 101, quoting reference numbers: 24000067996 and 2400006812.