A CAMPAIGNER calling on the Government to introduce a registration plate requirement for e-scooters has voiced his support for an Andover household.
As beforehand reported, Kayleigh McColl was strolling her eight-year-old daughter Elliemai Smith house from Knights Enham Junior School on Thursday, July 7 when an e-scooter collided along with her, inflicting her to interrupt two bones in her proper leg and undergo a concussion.
Police have issued an attraction for data to assist hint the driving force.
A campaigner from London who noticed the story has mentioned that he and different dad and mom of younger victims of e-scooter hit-and-runs can not perceive why the choice of registration plates for the automobiles isn’t being significantly thought of.
READ MORE: Police launch attraction after e-scooter hit and run left schoolgirl, 8, with damaged leg
On the Sunday earlier than the beginning of the brand new college time period in September 2021, father-of-one Ashe Medforth, from Highgate took his five-year-old daughter Holly to choose up some new footwear.
They rode on Ashe’s electrical cargo bike. They had simply parked up, and so Holly was nonetheless sporting her helmet as she went “skipping” alongside the pavement.
“She went around the corner, and bang!” mentioned Ashe.
“Your first response is for your child. The e-scooter handlebars had got stuck in her helmet! I had to wrench it out. My daughter was screaming, it had fractured her ribs.”
A form passerby referred to as the emergency companies and, as Ashe tried to take care of his little one, he claims the driving force began asking him for cash for the harm to his car.
“He started demanding money from me, but when a nice man called the police the guy realised he would get points on his licence and rode off!” mentioned Ashe.
The 56-year-old enterprise proprietor continued: “My daughter went to the hospital, and the neurologist mentioned to me that in his opinion, had she not been sporting the helmet, she wouldn’t simply have had a concussion, she would have everlasting mind harm.
“It was only by luck that she forgot she was wearing it. Normally, a child is not running around with a crash helmet on when they’re on the pavement, and it’s not something a parent should have to do.”
Police weren’t in a position to hint the driving force who hit Holly. After posting a couple of Tweets about his expertise, Ashe discovered that many different dad and mom have been in the identical boat, and at present has a campaigning group of 17, largely London-based, named ‘Juststickaregonit’.
SEE ALSO: Police officers tackle problem to deal with anti-social behaviour in Andover
The group say they’re “in no way, shape or form” in opposition to e-scooters, however are lobbying the federal government to introduce obligatory registration plates, which they are saying would imply they could possibly be extra simply traced and recorded.
At a non-public convention in London earlier this month, Sergeant Steve Wilson of the Met police was reported saying that riders will be recognized, with out a want for number plates.
“If they can do this in London, why can’t they simply do the same to catch the rider that broke Elliemai’s leg in Andover?,” mentioned Ashe. “I don’t see how they possibly can.”
He continued: “The summer time holidays are upon us and there shall be 1000’s extra kids on the pavements. If a child was killed and the police can’t observe a rider, abruptly we’d have a special story.
“I want Kayleigh and all the others to know that there are a few parents here who can’t make any promises, but we are trying to do what we can to help.”
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