Girl of 10 is trapped against fence by car

Mar 24 2008 by The Journal

A GIRL was trapped between a fence and a car in an accident in Northumberland yesterday.

The 10-year-old, whose first name was given locally last night as Chantelle, suffered crush injuries to the abdomen and a leg in the incident at about 12.35pm in Cedar Grove, Alnwick.

She was walking along the street when she was hit by a Ford Focus – which neighbours said had almost hit another car moments earlier.

The Focus pinned the girl against the fence of Isabel Robba’s council house on the corner of Cedar Grove and Lower Barresdale.

In doing so it demolished a section of the garden fence.

The girl was released by a man who was driving one of the cars – one of which was said to be a disabled person’s vehicle – and given first aid by firefighters from Alnwick and Amble.

She was taken to hospital, where her family were with her last night.

Mrs Robba, 62, who is retired, said she was cooking dinner when she heard a bang, which she thought was her oven exploding, as the accident happened.

She looked out of her window to see the Focus had ploughed through her fence and damaged the garden hedges.

Mrs Robba went outside and found the girl trapped between the fence and the car.

She spoke to the driver before going back into her house to ring the ambulance and police.

When she went back outside, the girl had been freed and was lying on the footpath.

A woman who lives in Cedar Grove had come out with a blanket for the child.

Mrs Robba said: “If there had been children in the garden – my own grandchildren – you never know. I do not think she is as bad as they thought she was. I
was in such a shock.”

Kelly Mallaburn, 28, who lives in Upper Barresdale and works at Argos in Alnwick, was having dinner at home when she saw someone running across the street.

She looked out of the window and saw that a car had gone through a fence.

Her husband went to pick up the girl’s mother, said to be Amanda Armstrong, of Upper Barresdale, from work while Mrs Mallaburn sat with the child until she arrived.

“She was talking, she was all right, she knew what was going on. She was complaining about the top of her leg. She was just shocked more than anything. She will be fine, I do not know if her leg will be broken. It is a horrible Easter.”

Firefighters said the girl had been taken to Wansbeck General Hospital at Ashington with minor injuries.

Police were examining the scene yesterday afternoon and making house-to-house inquiries.