A LORRY driver escaped death when a lump of concrete was thrown through his windscreen.

Colin Smith believes he is lucky to be alive after his windscreen exploded on a busy motorway.

He was driving back to his depot in Little Lever during the rush hour on Friday evening.

The 37-year-old father of three, of Willand Drive, Breightmet, is urging other drivers to watch out for youths who hurled the concrete off a motorway bridge on the new section of the M60.

Mr Smith was looking forward to clocking off after a busy week working for haulage contractors JO Transport when the incident happened during torrential rain.

He said: "The windscreen just exploded.

"I swerved and had to pull over.

"But I had difficulty trying to manoeuvre the lorry onto the hard shoulder because I couldn't see.

"It was very frightening and I realise I am very lucky to be alive.

"There's no doubt that if it had come directly onto the glass then it would have ended up in the cab."

The shocked driver got out of the 17-ton lorry, which was loaded with cargo, and saw a group of children, as young as 10 years old, running away from the bridge.

He said: "They're just idiots. There's no other word for it. I could easily have been killed."

As Mr Smith pulled onto the hard shoulder, another driver was also forced to pull in, saying that she had also had something thrown at her car.

Mr Smith explained: "She was very worried but her windscreen hadn't been damaged.

"There was a big muddy mark were something had been thrown at it. I can only think that the kids threw something larger at my cab."

A spokesman for Greater Manchester Police confirmed that they had received reports of missiles being thrown from the footbridge.

He said: "Unless there is positive identification of the children, then there is little that we can do."