At about 8:20pm on Saturday, a Glen Innes woman was driving home with her daughter when her car was hit by a melon-sized rock.

The woman’s husband said the incident marks the third time the family has had a car damaged by vandals.

“The part that’s disturbing is the size of the rock,” he said.

“Going by the size of the rock I find it hard to believe this was a child.

“The potential is there for someone to get killed.”

The two women were on their way home from Armidale Hospital, where the daughter had just had surgery.

The rock was thrown from bushes on the eastern side of the highway and hit the driver’s side door, below the window.

The woman reported seeing a dim light as the offenders escaped through the scrub.

The man estimates the damage bill to be about $1200.

“These are just absolute grubs, if it was kids, where are the parents?” he said.

“These are people who know the roads and they have an escape route.

“This needs to be brought to light, if the cops can’t catch them, what can they do?”

New England Inspector Roger Best said there had been several incidents where rocks had been thrown at cars travelling in the Armidale area.

“The most disturbing thing is that this took place on a highway where vehicle speeds could have seen people seriously injured or killed, it’s extremely dangerous,” he said.

“History tells us that these events can easily lead to the death of a driver.”

Inspector Best said in most reports a number of juveniles had been sighted running from the scene.

“People have been killed, we’ve got bridges named after truck drivers that have been killed after having rocks thrown at their windows,” he said.

Police are appealing for anyone with further information to contact Armidale police or Crime Stoppers.