Rail bosses are offering a £1,000 reward for information after a train was shot at with an 'air gun.' A pellet was fired at a Northern train in West Yorkshire last Monday (May 22).
The service from Leeds to Bradford Forster Square was hit near Kirstall Forge at around 5:30pm shattering the glass of one of the windows.
Northern chiefs said broken glass at high speed can be 'very dangerous' and that it was 'fortunate' no one was injured. An investigation is now being carried out by British Transport Police (BTP).
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The firm are now offering a £1,000 reward for information that leads to the arrest of the person police believe is responsible. The attack is one of 69 incidents where Northern services in the North of England have been struck by objects in the past year.
These include 42 bricks, stones and rocks thrown from bridges and railway embankments and 27 ‘substantial items’ deliberately placed on the tracks for trains to collide with, including shopping trollies, pushchairs and bikes.
The latest came just days after Northern featured on BBC One’s Frontline Fightback programme, highlighting the case of a driver whose train cab window was hit by a brick in 2022.
Tony Baxter, regional director for Northern, said: “It’s very fortunate that no-one was injured. It beggars belief that anyone thinks it’s ‘fun’ to target a train in this way. Anything involving shattered glass whilst trains are travelling at high speed can be very dangerous.
“We hope this reward will encourage anyone who knows the perpetrator of this attack to come forward with information for British Transport Police.”
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