YOBS who hurled a bicycle on to a rail line in Ipswich are being hunted today by British Transport Police.Officers have branded the act as extremely dangerous and said it was lucky that no one was injured or serious damage caused after a train hit the discarded bike.

By Jo Macdonald

YOBS who hurled a bicycle on to a rail line in Ipswich are being hunted today by British Transport Police.

Officers have branded the act as extremely dangerous and said it was lucky that no one was injured or serious damage caused after a train hit the discarded bike.

The Anglia Railways train was travelling from Felixstowe to Westerfield when it collided with the bike.

The white and purple ladies 12-speed mountain bike was written off in the accident on the track at the Fuschia Lane bridge.

Although the train was not believed to have been damaged, its driver reported hearing unknown noises when it eventually continued its journey and it has subsequently been taken out of service for examination.

There were a number of people on the train at the time of the collision and although no one was injured the train was delayed for 11 minutes.

Pc Paul Thompson, investigating officer for British Transport Police, said: "This is a nightmare thing to happen and very dangerous.

"Nobody was hurt but the train was delayed and it is not yet established whether the train is damaged. However, the bike has been totalled."

"Someone has thrown the bike over the bridge on to the track causing the train to hit it," he continued.

"It is an arrestable offence to obstruct a train with intent."

Officers are keen to hear from anyone who may have seen anything before the incident which happened at 7.45pm on Friday or who the bike belongs to.

British Transport Police have liased with Suffolk Police but found that the Emmell bike, model number HAWA2, had not been reported stolen.

The incident came 24 hours after the region's rail services were thrown into chaos when vandals left objects on the track at East Suffolk Junction, near the Hadleigh Road bridge in Ipswich.

Trains on branch lines from Ipswich to Felixstowe, Woodbridge and Lowestoft were cancelled and replaced by buses, or ran nearly an hour late.

The objects, which were on the lines overnight on Thursday, caused damage to the undercarriage of a train made of local units travelling from Ipswich to Norwich for maintenance.

Some of the units were so badly damaged they could not be repaired in time for service on Friday morning and for several hours buses replaced the Ipswich services to Felixstowe.

n Anyone with information about the Fuschia Lane bridge incident is asked to contact Pc Thompson on 01473 601978.