Familiy seek witnesses to help claim for compensation
The mother of a young schoolboy who was knocked over outside his primary school has appealed for witnesses to come forward to help in their fight for justice.
The support and information from witnesses can help the family in their fight to obtain a personal injury claim that the young boy sustained.
The boy who is from Blackpool, had just celebrated his 11th birthday two days before he was hit by a car outside his primary school, in June 2008.
His mother is now appealing for people who witnessed the incident to come forward. Unusually, she is also urging anyone who has been involved in any other accident close by, or who has narrowly avoided an accident on the notorious stretch of road, to also come forward.
She explained that: "It's widely known that there have been a number of problems with traffic around the school for years. The road layout has changed on numerous occasions, and the speed limit was reduced to 20mph and some sleeping policemen were installed. But road safety in the area hasn't increased at all - just ask my son."
Roads were always busy
The boy's mother also said that on the day of the incident she had taken the day off work to attend a summer fair being held at the school.
She recalled: "The roads around the school are always busy during term time, but on that day it was even busier than usual. I couldn't get a parking space on the school road as it was full of parked cars, so I parked on a side road.
"We were coming straight back home that day as my son had a birthday tea party planned. He had turned 11 on the Wednesday and we had invited some of his friends round for a birthday tea," she said.
Explaining the car accident, her son then added: "When school finished, I crossed the road with my mum and we walked to her car. We were about to set off when I remembered that I'd forgotten a game I had won in a raffle at the summer fair. My mum said I could go back and get it," he said.
"I had to cross the road again so I stopped and looked both ways, and crossed as there were no cars. I knew exactly where I'd left the game in my classroom so I walked into school, got the game and came back out."
The boy went on, adding: "I needed to cross the road to get back to my mum's car. There were a lot of cars parked on the road and next to the pavement. I can remember looking both ways and I saw a car coming slowly from my left."
Boy hit on his way back to mum's car
"It passed me and I looked both ways again but didn't see any other cars. I walked forward and had taken just a few steps when I got hit. I didn't see any car at all before it hit me," he said.
The boy was treated at the spot by paramedics for around 45 minutes.
His mum said: "He was given morphine but he was still screaming out in pain and they couldn't move his leg. He was taken by ambulance to Blackpool & Victoria Hospital, where he needed an operation to have pins and wires inserted into his leg."
A further operation was needed in September 2008, before he was put in a brace and began physiotherapy treatment.
Polly Fletcher, a personal injury lawyer with a law firm and a specialist in road accidents, said that witnesses were needed in order to secure the boy and his family with the compensation claim they are entitled to.
Ms Fletcher who is also representing the family in their legal case, said: "We have unconfirmed reports that a number of accidents and near-misses have occurred on this stretch of road over the years."
"If anyone witnessed this young boy getting knocked over, or was involved in an incident or near miss close to the school roads, their information could be a huge help to the boy's case."
Updated on 06/01/2010