Mum's anguish over injured daughter

THE mother of a schoolgirl seriously injured as she crossed a major Bolton road has spoken for the first time about the accident.

Vicky Launders, aged nine, was still unconscious in hospital today after she suffered serious head injuries and a broken pelvis in a collision with a car in Crompton Way, Astley Bridge. The youngster was crossing the busy dual carriageway with an eight-year-old friend when the accident happened. She is in the intensive care unit of the Royal Manchester Children's Hospital, where her conditon is described as stable.

Her mother, from Padbury Way, Breightmet, who has three other daughters and two sons, said she was relieved that her daughter had not been killed.

She said: "She was playing outside our home at teatime on Sunday. The next thing I knew the police were telling me that she had been in an accident.

"I don't know why she was crossing Crompton Way -- she does not normally wander off without telling me. I was shocked when I saw her in hospital."

"She knows that you have to cross the road using the crossings. If there had been a crossing on Crompton Way, she would have used it. I hope something is done about the road so no one else has to go through what we have."

Police have appealed for witnesses to the accident at 6pm on Sunday to call 0161 856 5972.

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"She has not woken up yet. It will be at least eight weeks before she is up and about again.