Girl, 10, recovering after accident ordeal
Mar 26 2008 by Dave Black, The Journal
A FATHER has told how his young daughter escaped with minor injuries when she was hit by an out-of-control car as she walked home from visiting her grandmother.
Chantelle Mavin, 10, was trapped between the car and a garden fence after the Ford Focus took a corner too fast, mounted the pavement and struck her in Cedar Grove, Alnwick, Northumberland on Sunday afternoon.
A man managed to pull her free and local residents put a blanket over her before she was given first aid at the scene by firefighters and ambulance paramedics.
Chantelle, who lives in nearby Upper Barrasdale, was taken by ambulance to Wansbeck General Hospital in Ashington and then transferred to North Tyneside General amid fears she might have suffered internal injuries.
She was detained for observation and checks but allowed home on Monday night after doctors were satisfied she had escaped with bruising to her legs, hips and stomach and cuts to her back and elbows.
Yesterday Chantelle, a pupil at Alnwick’s Dukes Middle School, was recovering at the home where she lives with her father Lee Mavin, 38, a line leader at the Cheviot Foods factory in Amble, mum Amanda Armstrong, 39, who works at Alnwick Castle, and brother Lee, 18.
Neighbours ran out of their houses after hearing a loud bang at lunchtime on Sunday when the car struck Chantelle and demolished part of a garden fence on the coroner of Cedar Grove and Lower Barrasdale.
Yesterday Mr Mavin said: “From what we have been told the driver lost control of the car while turning in, mounted the path and went through a fence. Chantelle was walking home from her nana’s and was wedged between the car and the fence. I was in the house and Amanda was at work but my son Lee came and said there had been an accident and he thought Chantelle was involved.
“When I got there she was lying on the ground with a blanket over her and was conscious but obviously in shock.
“At hospital they were worried about possible internal injuries so she was transferred to North Tyneside but, thankfully, she has suffered only bruising and scrapes.
“We realise she has been very lucky and that this could have been a lot worse.
“She is still quite sore and will be off school for the rest of the week, but should be back next week.”
Yesterday a Northumbria Police spokesman said inquiries into Sunday’s incident are continuing.
