Woman flees motorway attacker

A WOMAN driver fled across six lanes of an unlit motorway in the middle of the night to escape a man who attacked her as she sat alone in her broken down car.

She hid in bushes as the attacker ran to the central reservation before losing sight of her, returning to his car and driving off, a spokesman for West Yorkshire Police said yesterday.

The attack occurred late on Sunday night as the 25-year-old woman, a hotel worker from Wakefield, sat waiting for help in her car on the M62 between Tingley and Lofthouse, near Leeds.

Another car pulled up 100 yards behind, the driver got out, walked up to her, banged on the car window demanding to be let in, then tried to grab her hair when she opened the window slightly.

He returned to his car and the woman fled. She later flagged down a couple in another car who took her to a police patrol.

Inspector John Whittaker, of West Yorkshire Police, said: 'The motorways in West Yorkshire are policed quite intensively. Our general advice to any woman who breaks down in such circumstances would be to stay inside and wait for our patrols to find them.' The man was in his late 30s, stocky, with a narrow waist and hairy. He had dark hair and was clean shaven.