Taxi driver's windscreen smashed by rock thrown off bridge

By siobhan prideaux

​A Bath taxi driver who escaped death when a rock was thrown off a bridge onto the windscreen of his car has described his shock at the attack.

Nigel Paginton was travelling along the Keynsham bypass after dropping off a fare in Bristol when the incident happened yesterday morning at around 10.40am.

The 47-year-old, who lives in Twerton, was close to the Co-op supermarket and Broadmoor Lane junction when a piece of masonry was thrown from a bridge onto his car.

He said: “I was just cruising along about 60mph, all nice and relaxed, when suddenly I thought I had been shot to be honest.

“At first I thought I had been shot through the windscreen, but then I looked in my rearview mirror and saw a pair of little heads duck down.”

There was very little traffic on the road and Mr Paginton managed to safely slow down his car and pull over to look at the damage.

It was then that he realised how lucky he had been to escape uninjured.

The married father-of-two said: “It didn’t hit the middle of my windscreen, it was at the bottom so it had managed to hold together.

“If it had hit it in the middle it could have come straight through, so I was quite lucky, because then it would have hit me in the face.”

He added: “I was also really lucky there weren’t many cars on the road.

“If there had been one overtaking me at the time, I don’t know if I swerved a little bit, it could have been very dangerous.

“I’m all right now but I was shaking for about an hour yesterday. My heart was going 20 to the dozen.”

Mr Paginton has been driving since he was 17 and has been working as a taxi driver with city firm Abbey for 15 years.

He said he saw two young boys on the bridge after the incident, who ran off in the direction of the Co-op.

He said: “I think if I had the chance to speak to the people who did this, what I said would depend on how old they were.

“If it was young kids then maybe they didn’t have any idea about the repercussions of their actions.

“But if they were older then they need disciplining because they should understand the danger of what they did.”

Police are investigating and have asked anyone who was in the area and may have witnessed the incident or seen people on the bridge to come forward.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Bath police on 0845 4567000 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.