Ambulance driver has surgery

The incident happened in a rural area in Derbyshire

An East Midlands ambulance driver who was seriously injured after an object was thrown at his vehicle has undergone eight hours of emergency surgery.

The driver, who has not been named, was taking a patient to Derbyshire Royal Infirmary when the incident happened on the A52 near Kirk Langley in Derbyshire.

He swerved off the road and hit an embankment in the early hours of Sunday morning.

A brick may have thrown at the window of the ambulance, Derbyshire Police said.

Phil Morris, a spokesman for the East Midlands Ambulance Service, said: "The driver is currently in the Derbyshire Royal Infirmary. Last night (Sunday) he underwent eight hours of surgery on head and face injuries."

A male crew member and a friend of the patient were slightly injured in the crash.

Detectives are investigating two reports of stones being thrown at the windscreens of other vehicles on the same stretch of road at about the same time.

We're looking at the possibility that it was a brick but obviously it would have to be an object of some size to break the windscreen of an ambulance

Sergeant Pete Szabo

Sergeant Pete Szabo, of Derbyshire Police, said they were investigating reports from two other drivers where objects hit the windscreen.

At about midnight on Sunday a car windscreen was smashed near Brailsford and at 0015 BST a woman driving towards Ashbourne phoned police to say an object had hit her windscreen.

Sergeant Szabo said "We're looking at the possibility that it was a brick, but obviously it would have to be an object of some size to break the windscreen of an ambulance.

Witness appeal

"We're treating this as a very serious crime, " Sergeant Szabo said.

Detective Superintendent John Langley who is leading the investigation said: "The area where all three incidents took place is very rural although there would have been drivers who would have been around.

"They may have witnessed the incidents or have seen something or someone that seemed suspicious or unusual."