A 53-year-old blind woman was struck on the head and showered with glass when a rock smashed through a train window, narrowly missing her guide dog.

Marilyn Baker, from Hadlow, near Tonbridge, and her flatmate were travelling back from a break away when vandals attacked the train on a stretch of track in East Sussex.

A man from West Sussex, travelling in a different carriage, was also injured.

Miss Baker, a singer songwriter, said: "I was sitting next to the window and I had just got a coffee, so I was leaning forward. The rock hit me on the back right hand side of the head. It caused a lot of bleeding and a great deal of glass showered all over me, onto my clothes and into my neck."

The rock landed near the head of Miss Baker's guide dog, 10-year-old Golden Retriever Giles. He remained calm despite the commotion and did not injure himself on the glass that landed around him.

Miss Baker said her injuries would have been far worse had it not been for the safety glass.

The train was travelling at about 70mph when the vandals struck, at Fishersgate, near Hove.

Four windows in different carriages were smashed by rocks, picked up from the track.

Miss Baker said: "They just don't think.

The parents should talk to their kids about the dangers. It's mindless."

Sgt Martin Mace, of British Transport Police, said: "It's extremely dangerous. We were very lucky that the injuries weren't more severe."