BOLTON mum Linda Bateson, pictured, is appealing to local parents not to buy mini-motorbikes for their children.

She knows too well the dangers involved. Her 18 year-old son, John, died from injuries in a crash in Heywood Park, Great Lever, after borrowing a mini-motorbike.

She says: “I know that no matter what I say people will still buy them, but these things are death traps.”

Let’s hope that some parents do heed Linda’s words and buy their children something safer.

How tragic it would be if the “gift” that a loving mum or dad gives to their son or daughter this Christmas becomes the reason why they lose them forever.