A TEENAGER has been criticised by police for lying and wrongly blaming a hit and run driver for crushing his foot.

The 15-year-old, who nearly had his toe amputated, made up the cover story after falling under the wheels of a stacker truck at a nearby derelict mill.

Police described the boy as "irresponsible" for wasting police time.

The youngster sparked a major hunt for witnesses, including appeals in the BEN, after claiming he was injured when he was struck by a reckless motorist.

Surgeons were forced to stitch back the little toe on the boy's left foot following the incident in June.

The boy, an army cadet, also suffered two fractures in his right leg.

But now, police have revealed that the teenager's original story was false.

They say he fell under the wheels of a truck in a derelict yard of Fletcher Mill, Stoneclough.

Other youths carried him to the side of Ringley Road before alerting emergency services. Inspector Duncan Grundy, head of Bolton Police Traffic Unit, said: "This was an extremely irresponsible thing to do. Not only was this youth seriously injured but his companions then could have aggravated his injuries by carrying him some distance to the roadside. A lot of police time was wasted on the inquiry."

The teenager originally said a Vauxhall Nova had swerved towards him as he sat on the kerb of Ringley Road on the Radcliffe-bound carriageway.

Speaking in the BEN in June, his mum described the motorist as "gutless". She was unavailable for comment following the new police statement.