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UK: UPDATED - Train stops, driver goes to hospital, after laser pen attack

A train was forced to stop, and the driver was hospitalized, after a green laser pen was shone into his eyes. The February 9 2012 incident happened at 9:30 pm in the White City area, on the 8:41 pm First Great Western train from Bristol Temple Meads to Worcester Shrub Hill. The train stopped at Gloucester, where the driver was treated by paramedics and was taken to hospital. Passengers transferred to another train.

A police spokesman said the laser light “not
only distracted the driver and potentially damaged his eye, but it also could have had serious safety consequences for the passengers. The driver's attention was averted from his job of safely controlling the train…. He is currently awaiting the results of medical assessments on his eye and is in some degree of pain. We are hopeful he'll make a full recovery but, at this stage, he is in some discomfort."

Police are asking for assistance in finding two youths seen on a footbridge off Southfield Road in White City.

From this is Gloucestershire and BBC News Gloucestershire

UPDATE February 14 2012: The train driver “is recovering and should return to work next week”, according to a spokesperson for First Great Western quoted by BBC News Gloucestershire. The story also said that there had been six laser-train incidents on the FGW network from January 2011 through February 14 2012, and that the February 9 incident had the most serious impact on the driver.