A man who needed hospital treatment after being hit on the head by a stone thrown by a ten-year-old boy at a passing train has demanded action to reassure passengers.

The 49-year-old father-of-two from Shipley was left with blood spurting from a large gash on his forehead following the incident last Tuesday evening.

He was travelling home on the 7.04pm service from Leeds when one of two ten-year-old boys scored a direct hit through an open window.

Police arrested and cautioned the two boys and warned two nine-year-old boys who were with them.

The man, who has asked not to be named, has called on local councillors and Shipley MP Chris Leslie to pursue the matter on his behalf.

Specifically, he wants to establish whether Shipley is a focus for such attacks and what measures are being taken to deter them. Speaking exclusively to the Telegraph & Argus he said: "Initially the questions I have asked are, one: is the Shipley area a target area for vandalism and if it is I want to be reassured. I want to know what the authorities are doing. I want to know that the best has been done. Certainly the families in the area need targeting.

"You can't legislate for a ten-year-old boy throwing stones but what you can legislate for is to see whether it is happening on a regular basis and if so to take some action.

"These children should not be playing near a railway line and I honestly think that there should be curfew times, there must be areas and boundaries where children should not be.

"I know it sounds harsh but I would have like to have seen the boys prosecuted. It would make the families think that this is unacceptable in society.

He recalled the moment when the attack happened saying: "The train was just slowing down in the tunnel when I saw this blonde-haired boy in a red football top raise his arm towards the train.

"Then it was all blurred and everything was hurting in my head. I put my hands to my head and there was blood coming out.

"A young woman and a Hungarian doctor tried to help me before the guard stopped the train and gave me first aid. They were shocked by what happened, there was a lot of blood. The people round me were disgusted by it.

"I was then taken in an ambulance to Bradford Royal Infirmary and had to take the next day off work.

"I was furious afterwards but I don't take it personally. I have no malice against the individual, it's just if don't protest how can you change things?"

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