A stark warning has been issued to parents after teens were seen throwing bricks at cars and lorries on the A66.

A number of vehicles were reportedly targeted by children throwing bricks at the A66 near Middlesbrough on Wednesday (September 4).

The suspects are believed to be aged between 12- and 15-years-old.

National Highways is warning parents of the dangers of playing near motorways and A-roads and asking parents to speak to youngsters and discourage dangerous behaviour.

Police said a HGV suffered damage to its windshield in one incident after they received a number of reports of vehicles being damaged near Preston Farm and Bowesfield Lane.

Simon Boyle from National Highways said: “It is worrying and upsetting to hear about incidents involving children and teenagers playing near busy roads across our network and endangering drivers and their passengers.

"Staff at our regional operations centre near Wakefield work closely with the police to monitor our roads around the clock, with an extensive network of CCTV cameras recording at locations.

"If the threat of prosecution is not warning enough, we would ask parents to have a conversation with youngsters about the potentially tragic consequences of stone-throwing and of playing near the motorway."

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Cleveland Police acting-Supt Dan Heron added: “These incidents are serious, and they create a significant danger to those on the roads. Incidents like this will not be tolerated and officers are following lines of enquiry in order to identify those responsible.

“I would ask anybody who sees people throwing items towards moving vehicles in the area to call 999 so that we can try to prevent anyone from being hurt and locate those responsible.

“My message to those who think it’s acceptable to carry out these incidents is that you must stop this now before somebody is seriously injured.”