NURSERY staff fear children could be injured after vandals twice smashed windows by throwing stones from a neighbouring bridge.

Staff at Childfirst nursery in Launton Road, Bicester, campaigned to stop the rail footbridge, which they described as "monstrous".

It was erected in May 2014 and now the site has been targeted twice by vandals throwing stones from the bridge, smashing some of the windows.

The first incident was in February, when one window was hit, before vandals struck again on Easter Monday damaging three panes.

Head of the nursery Andrea Leonard said: "We always thought the bridge was going to be an issue and stopped using that play garden as the bridge overhangs.

"It was something we were worried about from the very beginning and I am surprised it has taken that long to be honest.

"It is worrying because they couldn’t tell if we were in the building or not and there are an awful lot of rocks there – they had a pretty good go at it.

"If the rocks had gone through they could have done some serious damage and injured a child."

Staff were alerted to the second bout of smashed windows over the Easter holiday weekend when a passerby saw the attack.

Mrs Leonard said they saw four children on bikes throwing stones at the 140-children nursery, at about 2.30pm on Monday.

The recent incident has been reported to Thames Valley Police.

Mrs Leonard added: "We already had to pay out £160 the first time, now it is going to be three times that as they have smashed three windows this time.

"Last time it was done overnight but this time it was in broad daylight.

"It is a hassle and inconvenience - we will have to replace all the windows again and I would rather be spending that money on the children for toys, not replacing windows."

As part of the rail improvements between Oxford and Bicester, the bridge was installed to permanently replace Tubbs Crossing, between Launton Road and housing estate Langford Village.

Nursery staff said earlier that although they was consulted about a footbridge they were not made aware of the "size and scale" of the structure.

Mrs Leonard said: "We get lots of rubbish and we cannot use that as the vegetable garden anymore.

"It is sad that it is not used by the children anymore, it is a real shame."

The nursery is currently waiting for the result of the police investigations before deciding whether to replace smashed windows.

Anyone with information should contact police on 101.