A STUDENT says he is lucky to be alive after a steel bolt was thrown through his car window in a road rage attack.

Chris Wilkinson, pictured, says the incident has left him afraid to drive around Risca and fearful every time he sees a vehicle resembling the one from which the missile was thrown.

The Coleg Gwent student, of Bath Green, Cwmbran, was travelling to the Cross Keys campus with two friends in his Vauxhall Astra.

The 18-year-old said: "I tried to overtake a flatbed Ford Escort van on the A467 going to Risca from New-port. As I was doing so it pulled out right in front of me, so I beeped my horn because it was a dangerous manoeuvre.

"As he pulled back into the inside lane I tried to overtake him again, but as I drew level with him he kept edging across - I think he was trying to push me into the barrier on the carriageway.

"As I finally got past him the driver wound down the window and threw something at me, but this bounced off the top of my roof."

Mr Wilkinson sped away - but the motorist followed him to Risca. He said: "As we were driving around a roundabout the van's passenger wound down the window and gave me a load of abuse.

"The next thing I knew the window just shattered. I drove straight to Risca police station and it wasn't until I got there that I realised they had thrown a five-and-a-half-inch steel bolt into my car.

"I couldn't believe that anyone could be so stupid. If that bolt had hit me in the head then at the very least it would have knocked me out - in which case I could have crashed my car and killed myself and my two mates in the process."

The bolt missed both Mr Wilkinson and his two passengers and no-one was hurt by the flying glass.

A spokeswoman for Risca police said: "This appears to be an unprovoked and completely over-the-top incident which could have resulted in a fatality."

Anyone who witnessed the incident, just before 3pm on Monday, March 4, should contact PC Sarah Borley on 01633 612391.