Teacher Sybil Noble told today how she cheated death when a concrete block hit her on the head as she drove home from a night out.

Mrs Noble escaped with grazes and bruising when the boulder, dropped by a young thug, smashed through her sun roof as she was driving at 40mph.

The 60-year-old, from Nab Wood, was on her way home with her husband Alan and a friend after a night out at a concert when the hooligan struck.

She was on Wakefield Road when the block was dropped from the footbridge at the Dudley Hill roundabout.

It crashed through a cycle rack on her Rover and smashed the sun roof before hitting Mrs Noble on the head. Amazingly, she managed to bring the car safely to a stop.

She was taken to Bradford Royal Infirmary for treatment but did not even need stitches.

Recovering at her home in Branksome Drive, she said: "I've been very lucky.

"What saved me was my husband's metal cycle rack. It stopped some of the impact before the lump of concrete came through the sun roof. If it hadn't have done, I don't think I would be here talking to you today. It is a sobering thought."

The impact of the block, which measured one foot-long by six inches-deep, also showered her husband, 66, a retired film projectionist, and their friend, Boyd Crabtree, in glass.

Mrs Noble said: "We had been to see the ballad singer Pat O'Hare at the Crystal Rooms in Batley.

"We had a lovely, very civilised evening and were just happily chatting about the songs we had heard when suddenly there was an almighty explosion - that's the only way I can describe it.

"It was like the world had blown apart. I thought I must have hit a car or been hit by one. Then Boyd, who was sitting in the back, saw the concrete on the floor and realised somebody had thrown something.

"I had just reached 40 mph but I managed to stop the car on the road just a few yards past the bridge. I don't remember how I did it. I was just acting automatically on instinct.

"When we came to a stop I felt something dripping. I put my hand up to my head and there was blood everywhere. My clothes were soaked in it. I thought my head had been split open.

"A couple had been driving behind us and saw everything that happened. The man chased the youth but he couldn't catch him because he was on a bike.''

Mrs Noble added: "The doctors looked at the wound when I got to hospital and it was quite remarkable that there was no actual deep cut that required stitches. All I had was grazes and bruises."

The teacher, who vowed she would be back at school next week, said the culprit needed to see a psychiatrist to try to get through to him what he had done and what could have happened.

She added: "He could have been up for murder. He was deliberately aiming to hit a car.''

Anyone with information should contact police on (01274) 376459.