BOY, 7, KNOCKED OVER IN HIT-AND-RUN
‘Shocked’ families demanding action
DASHCAM footage has captured the moment a seven-year-old boy was knocked to the ground by a car in a hit-and-run crash.
The youngster was crossing Granville Avenue, near Sneyd Academy in Sneyd Green, with an adult when he was struck by a red vehicle which had turned right off Sneyd Street.
The boy – who has not been named – was taken to the Royal Stoke University Hospital for further treatment but was not seriously hurt.
Now families fear there could be more accidents as the road becomes so congested at schoolrun times.
Parent Kirsty Bedson, a 28-yearold cleaning supervisor, said: “Been saying this for years. It was bound to happen. It won’t surprise me if it happens again. It can be really bad, especially when it’s raining when we tend to get more cars.
“My daughter nearly got run over the other day actually. It was a car just pulling up on the pavement. We need a car park.”
Melody Bateman, aged 35, said: “It’s terrible. It just never seems to get better. You’ve got people parking up the kerb. We’re still shocked that somebody got clipped and hurt from it and we hope he’s all right. It always seems to take something like an accident before something gets done, but fingers crossed something can be done.”
The Sentinel reported several years ago that the school hoped to create an additional car park by buying a nearby plot of land.
Families say there are just too many cars using the area at pick-up and drop-off times.
Forty-eight-old Clare Brookes said: “You just worry about the children on the roads, because the pavements are so narrow.”
NHS worker Louise Beech, aged 41, thinks more help from Stoke-on-trent City Council is needed to improve the conditions.
She said: “It was an accident waiting to happen. The school have tried to sort out parking. We’ve asked for some one-way systems down the road to make it less busy.
“We’ve asked for traffic lights to make it safer for the children to cross. But the council are just not interested.”
Staffordshire Police has revealed that the car failed to remain at the scene of the collision.
A police spokesman said they were called to Sneyd Street at about 8.20am on Thursday.
He said: “A seven-year-old boy had been in collision with a red Fiat 500 at the junction with Granville Avenue, which had then driven off from the scene.
“The boy suffered very minor injuries and was transported to hospital by the ambulance crew.”
■ Anyone with any information about the hit-and-run crash should call the police on 101, or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.