Driver covered in blood and baby showered with glass after bricks hurled at trains in year of violence

manchestereveningnews.co.uk:

A Northern train driver was left covered in blood after his cab window was shattered by a brick thrown in Clifton, Greater Manchester.

The incident in February this year, which left driver Ian Birch injured, came four months before a 15-week-old baby, Esme Emmerson, was showered with glass after the train she was travelling on with her parents was attacked on approach to Hull, East Yorkshire in June.

Both shocking incidents are two of a huge 70 dangerous attacks in the last 12 months - more than one a week. Since August last year, Northern Train's services across the North of England were struck by 42 bricks, stones and rocks thrown from bridges and railway embankments.

Its carriages also collided with 27 ‘substantial items’ including shopping trollies, pushchairs and bikes deliberately placed on the track. Read more: Brave young mum-of-two, 24, feels 'let down by the system' following devastating diagnosis The train operator has released the information – including a map showing the location of each incident - as part of an on-going appeal to raise awareness of how dangerous this criminal activity is.