Victims say they feel lucky to be alive after missile dropped from bridge smashed the windscreen of their car

Essex police say there may have been 30 incidents of rocks being thrown from bridges along the A12 in the county over the past three years, following two attacks on Friday evening, one of which left a woman seriously injured.

Two of the victims, Lisa Horne, 26, and her mother, Stella, whose Vauxhall Astra car was hit by an object near Ingatestone as they returned from a shopping trip, told journalists that they felt lucky to be alive. Lisa Horne said: "It was as if someone had put their hands over my eyes, then I just heard a bang and my windscreen shattered. Obviously if I was going any faster, it may have been a different story. I do feel very lucky,"

She managed to steer the car onto the hard shoulder before stopping. "I am scared to drive, I don't think I will be driving in the dark. I certainly won't be going down the A12. I am scared that I might never have come home to my two young children. It has scared me a lot and made me realise how precious life is."

A few minutes later a lump of concrete described as being the size and shape of a bucket was dropped on another car, from another nearby bridge at Galleywood, severely injuring a 57-year-old woman passenger in a car being driven by her husband. She was described as being in a stable condition in hospital, where she is being treated for fractures to her face and ribs and internal injuries. Her husband suffered cuts and bruises.

With police patrols and surveillance being stepped up, Detective Chief Inspector Keith Davies said: "I would urge the public to examine rockeries and gardens to see if they are missing an obvious, large lump of concrete because I would like to identify the scene, because it could provide me with some evidential opportunities, too."

A reported sighting of a possible vandal at another nearby bridge on Sunday was ruled out as a false alarm, but in Shrewsbury police reported that breeze blocks had been thrown off a bridge at passing cars.