A SCHOOLGIRL fears her award-winning Irish dancing days could be at an end following a road accident.

Jennifer Hammersley, 11, needed surgery to insert screws and wires in her left ankle which was badly broken following a collision with a car.

The Smithills High School pupil is still being treated in the Royal Bolton Hospital after surgeons operated on her ankle for two hours on Tuesday afternoon

But now Jennifer and her mum, Janice, 32, fear the injury could spell disaster for the youngster's future success.

Just days before the accident, Jennifer, of Musgrave Road, Heaton, had won two trophies and five medals at a dancing competition in Liverpool, to add to the five trophies and other medals she has already picked up.

Her toe-tapping triumphs have come in just 18 months since she first started Irish dancing as a pupil with the Karen Gleeson School of Dance.

Jennifer said: "I'm really worried that I won't be able to dance. My ankle is really painful. I've been told that if I don't bang it it should be okay for me to dance again."

The young dancer suffered her injury when she collided with a Land Rover Freelander on Smithills Dean Road, as she tried to cross the carriageway near to a parked bus at 3.40pm on Monday.

Mrs Hammersley added: "They have to do so much of the dancing on tip toe. I just don't know whether her ankle would be able to take all of that pressure."