Taxi driver’s lucky escape after object hurled at car

A TAXI driver had a narrow escape when a rock was thrown off a bridge on to his windscreen as he drove on the Keynsham bypass.

Nigel Paginton was travelling along the A4 after dropping off a fare when the incident happened at around 10.40am on Thursday.

The 47-year-old was close to the roundabout by the Co-op supermarket when a piece of masonry was thrown from a bridge on to his car.

He said: “I was just cruising along at 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, who lives in Bath, 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, well, what I would say 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 who may have witnessed the incident or seen people on the bridge, to come forward.

Anyone with information should contact police on 0845 4567000 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.