A football manager said he could have been killed or seriously injured after a lump of concrete smashed into his van windscreen as he drove under a bridge over the A47 near Scarning.

Eastern Daily Press: Wayne Anderson's windscreen was smashed by a lump of concrete that appears to have been thrown from a bridge over the A47Wayne Anderson's windscreen was smashed by a lump of concrete that appears to have been thrown from a bridge over the A47 (Image: Wayne Anderson)

Wayne Anderson, manager of Fakenham Town FC, was travelling from his home in King's Lynn to work in Dereham last Thursday morning in his Citroen Berlingo van when the accident happened.

He believes the concrete was thrown from the bridge by vandals and said he was lucky to keep control of the vehicle, with a hole in the splintered windscreen, until he got to work.

Norfolk Police have launched an investigation.

'I was going about 55mph when I got to one of the bridges around Scarning and something came off the top and hit the windscreen,' he said.

'It hit the passenger side and it wasn't just a stone, it was a lump of concrete. I don't like to put up a fuss but this could have caused someone a bad accident or even killed someone. If it had hit the driver's side I could have veered off the road or into the path of another car.

'If I had had a passenger, like one of my kids, in the car they would have been up to hospital with glass in them.

Mr Anderson said although he was not injured he is still struggling to come to terms with it.

He was so shaken by the incident he can't remember which of the three bridges over the A47 around Scarning it was and he was so conscious of getting to a safe place to stop that he didn't look around for the culprits.

'I didn't see anyone run off,' he said. 'I had to take the rest of the day off work because I was so shaken. I keep thinking what if it had hit a car with a young family in, maybe a baby in a car seat on the passenger side.

'Every time I drive down the A47 I now slow down when I am coming to a bridge and look very carefully. Once it has happened to you, you don't want it to happen again.'

Norfolk Police Sgt Andy Tomlinson said officers had looked at the bridges and they appeared to be structurally sound so they were treating it as criminal damage.

'Throwing anything off a bridge into the path of oncoming traffic is extremely dangerous and reckless and could have caused serious injury,' he said. 'If brought to crown court it could carry a sentence of up to 10 years in prison.'

Anyone with information about the incident should contact Norfolk Police on 101.