A WOMAN believes she could have died after a brick was hurled at her car as she drove along a quiet Lancaster street.

Kelly Akister was left terrified and shaken by the flying brick attack and says: "I could have been killed."

Police have described Kelly's escape as a miracle' and are now hunting the culprits.

Kelly, aged 27, was driving to work along Lune Road when the house brick smashed into the roof of her car causing around £2,000 worth of damage.

The reality of the situation only set in for Kelly when she stopped the car and looked at the damage.

The brick hit her Mitsubishi Warrior pick-up a few inches above the windscreen.

"If it had been a couple of inches lower the brick would have come right through," says Kelly. "And if it had done that I could have been dead I am very lucky and all I was doing was trying to get to work."

Kelly found the brick in the back of the pick-up and says she cannot believe it was so close to the windscreen or how much damage it caused to the vehicle.

"I really can't believe anyone would do such a thing there was a car behind me and the consequences could have been terrible," she told the Citizen.

Police are now appealing for information about the incident, which happened on Lune Road just days after a double-decker bus was hit by a brick in Bowerham Road, Lancaster, as reported in the Citizen last week.

A 20-year-old man suffered minor cuts in the attack, which prompted bus bosses to warn that services might have to be withdrawn from parts of the city.

Now Detective Sergeant Mark Salisbury,l of Lancaster Police, says: "I can't stress strongly enough the danger of this sort of behaviour.

"This woman has had a miracle escape the consequences of this action could have been dreadful and we could quite easily have been investigating a much more serious crime.

"This sort of thing is becoming increasingly common and it has to stop."

Anyone with information should contact police on 01524-63333 or call the confidential Crimestoppers hotline on 0800-555111.