Angry mum urges hit-and-run driver who injured son to come forward (From The Northern Echo)
Send us your pictures, video, news and views by texting NORTHERN ECHO to 80360 or email us
Bishop Auckland News RSS Feed Send your news, pictures & videos
Driver fled after knocking boy off bike in Hunwick
8:50am Tuesday 31st January 2012 in Bishop Auckland News
THE mother of a teenage hit-and-run victim has urged the driver who knocked her son off his bike to hand themselves in to police.
Nathan Haslam, 13, was hit while riding his bike in Hunwick, near Bishop Auckland, County Durham, at about 7pm on Sunday, by a VW Golf, which failed to stop after the accident.
The teenager was cycling along the main road through the village, near Hunwick primary school, when he was hit by a car pulling out of a side street, which catapulted him over the handlebars.
He suffered superficial wounds to his face and hands, which paramedics treated at scene.
His mother, Marie, from Sunnybrow, said it was a miracle that her son had escaped with minor injuries that did not require hospital treatment, but expressed her anger towards the driver for failing to stop.
Miss Haslam, who has four other children, said: “When I got a phone call from one of his friends, who was crying and saying Nathan had been knocked over, I didn’t know what to expect.
“I can’t understand how someone can live with themselves knowing they drove away from a child they had knocked over, you just don’t do that kind of thing.
Marie Haslam
“He was a mess when I got there. His whole body was shaking, he was crying and he didn’t know what had gone on.
“He has been a very lucky boy to escape with bumps and bruises and no broken bones. The paramedics cleaned him up in a nearby house.
“I can’t understand how someone can live with themselves knowing they drove away from a child they had knocked over, you just don’t do that kind of thing.
“Nathan is still very shaken up and in a state of shock. I think the scars on the outside will heal quicker than the ones on the inside.”
Police say the motorist would have known they had hit someone and are appealing for witnesses.
The vehicle is described as a black, old-shape VW Golf, which had large alloys and low-profile tyres.
Anyone with information is asked to call PC Damian Stevens on 101, or Crimestoppers on 0800-555-111.
Comments(39)
stevegg
says...
9:59am Tue 31 Jan 12
Old Bogeyes
says...
4:47pm Tue 31 Jan 12
Old Bogeyes
says...
4:47pm Tue 31 Jan 12
simmo3578
says...
5:20pm Tue 31 Jan 12
darloab99
says...
8:26pm Tue 31 Jan 12
Old Bogeyes
says...
9:42pm Tue 31 Jan 12
jayhaslam
says...
10:43pm Tue 31 Jan 12
jayhaslam
says...
10:54pm Tue 31 Jan 12
jayhaslam
says...
10:57pm Tue 31 Jan 12
Old Bogeyes
says...
11:13pm Tue 31 Jan 12
jayhaslam wrote:lol,,,I do work for the government !!,,and its the likes of you that we consider incompetent in your TRUCKS that we are looking at now !!!. AS for your saying "be seen and not hurt ",,then, GET SOME LIGHTS ON YOUR BIKE !!..you really area a thick lot,arn't you !.
old bogeyes you must be a old sunday driver who gets kids sitting on your wall and taking the p*ss out of you to be that sad and say its the kids fault and speculate what happend you should work for the goverment or sas if you are that clever but hey i drive a truck i hope you have your lights on when im passing you cus the saying is be seen and NOT hurt ????????????????
jayhaslam
says...
11:27pm Tue 31 Jan 12
Old Bogeyes wrote:HELLO did i not say i drive a truck not ride a bike i can see why you work for the goverment with that low IQ and as for thick its not my fault you was born like that ......
jayhaslam wrote:lol,,,I do work for the government !!,,and its the likes of you that we consider incompetent in your TRUCKS that we are looking at now !!!. AS for your saying "be seen and not hurt ",,then, GET SOME LIGHTS ON YOUR BIKE !!..you really area a thick lot,arn't you !.
old bogeyes you must be a old sunday driver who gets kids sitting on your wall and taking the p*ss out of you to be that sad and say its the kids fault and speculate what happend you should work for the goverment or sas if you are that clever but hey i drive a truck i hope you have your lights on when im passing you cus the saying is be seen and NOT hurt ????????????????
jayhaslam
says...
11:35pm Tue 31 Jan 12
Old Bogeyes wrote:lights on a bike are not halogen thick o so a person on a bike can only see 20ft or more and you dont need a bike test but drivers do need a test on seeing everything the bike was not a ufo and just landed . by the way we wont find out whos fault it was cus the driver drove off prob cus he pinched the car or was drunk or was IT U
jayhaslam wrote:you Dik head !!,,,how many feet in front should a cyclist be able to see WITH NO LIGHTS ?...If the cyclist had no lights,,then its the cyclists fault !...end of.
the driver of the car at 7pm should of see the boy as cars are fitted with lights and drivers should be able to see at least 30 ft in front and be able to stop in time and drivers should stop if or if not there fault ........
jayhaslam
says...
11:35pm Tue 31 Jan 12
Old Bogeyes wrote:lights on a bike are not halogen thick o so a person on a bike can only see 20ft or more and you dont need a bike test but drivers do need a test on seeing everything the bike was not a ufo and just landed . by the way we wont find out whos fault it was cus the driver drove off prob cus he pinched the car or was drunk or was IT U
jayhaslam wrote:you Dik head !!,,,how many feet in front should a cyclist be able to see WITH NO LIGHTS ?...If the cyclist had no lights,,then its the cyclists fault !...end of.
the driver of the car at 7pm should of see the boy as cars are fitted with lights and drivers should be able to see at least 30 ft in front and be able to stop in time and drivers should stop if or if not there fault ........
mickhaz
says...
11:38pm Tue 31 Jan 12
jayhaslam
says...
11:41pm Tue 31 Jan 12
jenn86
says...
11:47pm Tue 31 Jan 12
mickhaz
says...
11:49pm Tue 31 Jan 12
jayhaslam
says...
11:55pm Tue 31 Jan 12
mickhaz wrote:its my son too so dont comment again b ogeyes ur just making situation worse with me dont you care how his parents feel he is a good lad he dont deserve ur crappy comments he could of been killed or really badly injured sorry my son rides on the road with his bike maybe he should of rode on the path !!! but he has respect not to ride on paths incase but now he wont ride on either due to people like that car and you
bogeyes are you a moron or just a retard it was still only a kid u musnt have kids yourself have ya fact is the **** in the car fled and didnt even see if the bairn was ok iits arrogant **** like u who are a waste of fresh air thats my **** nephew ur talkin about
Ahoy Tiny Crisp
says...
9:35am Wed 1 Feb 12
Nicked wrote:As an old muppet once typed ROFLMFOA!
Old Bogeyes wrote:What an idiotic comment! Because the car didn't see the cyclist it means the bike had no lights??
simmo3578 wrote:Oh,,,,,BUT,,it does !!!!,,if the car driver never saw him !!,,hence no LIGHTS !!. The car driver may not have known there was any accident !!. Lets face it he is only a little thing getting in the way of a bigger thing !!!. Anyway,,,I thought they taught these things at school !!!.
chances are he didnt have lights on his bike but doesnt excuse the driver fleeing the scene, quite a distinctive car so somebody reading this will no doubt come forward and the driver will be punished with a day out at croft race track or something similar
Plus, if a driver can hit a pedal cycle to cause injuries like these and not know about it they probably shouldn't be on the roads anyway! Get some brains and consider how you would feel if it was your friend or relative!!
Let's hope the driver has some form of morals and comes forward......
twin39r
says...
9:58am Wed 1 Feb 12
kristal27
says...
11:32am Thu 2 Feb 12
kristal27
says...
11:37am Thu 2 Feb 12
mickhaz wrote:mickhaz - i thing bogeyes gets off on being a sh*t H*le to make up for his sad little life sat on his laptop in his sad little bedroom at his mams. The best thing to do is ignore him, and realise that if you passed him in Morrissons he would'nt say boo to a goose ;-). Hope you nephew recovers soon -best wishes to your family
bogeyes are you a moron or just a retard it was still only a kid u musnt have kids yourself have ya fact is the **** in the car fled and didnt even see if the bairn was ok iits arrogant **** like u who are a waste of fresh air thats my **** nephew ur talkin about
Blankface
says...
3:45pm Thu 2 Feb 12
rockfordIL
says...
6:12pm Thu 2 Feb 12
Just a question, don't get offended please.
dbrown101
says...
6:24pm Thu 2 Feb 12
also it seems strange the car is described as an old golf with big alloys and people are assuming the child is a chav, i'd have assumed the driver was.
house fly
says...
7:28pm Thu 2 Feb 12
house fly
says...
7:47pm Thu 2 Feb 12
always right
says...
11:31pm Thu 2 Feb 12
Blankface wrote:I tend to agree with this statement !. I also agree with bogeyeyes,being the point is,he should have had lights on the bike !. However,reading the comments from his supposed relatives,which judging by their grammer have never had a day's education in their lives,it is of no shock to me that this happend at all. My message is the parents,such as in this case is,teach your children safety,and to be seen as someone already pointed out to you !. moral of this story is,i find this youngster a victim of HIS own doing !.
The car pulled out of a side street like it side in article so I wouldn't of seen him either even with me full beam on but driver still should of stopped but it's probably a case of no insurance and do you think his mother will now go out and buy him lights for his bike, No. Kids don't give a toss about safety so it's his own fault .
Doodles111
says...
12:26am Fri 3 Feb 12
How is a VW Golf a distinctive car? There are VW's everywhere, and it doesn't say what year or if it's a GTI or a VR or what mk it is. I would love to know your opinion on how a VW is 'distinctive'.
Would you say a Vauxhall Corsa is 'distinctive'? Or a double decker bus? Is there only a handfull of vehicles in the North East? Last time I was home there was bloody loads!!
I don't care if the kid is a 'chav' or wasn't riding with lights on, he shouldn't have been hit. If you can't see a bairn riding a bike at any time of day or night you shouldn't be driving. The person must have seen him as he hit him, he can't have been oblivious and he should have stopped and checked he was okay. Human decency seems to have gone out of the window.
Also, who has the right to say relatives have never had a days education? Especially as you can't seem to put spaces between your punctuation and have also used two full stops after your exclamation mark which has a space between the word and the mark! Yes I am a spelling and grammar nazi, but don't judge people unless you are god **** perfect!!
the-big-yin
says...
10:34am Fri 3 Feb 12
johnny_p
says...
4:01am Sat 4 Feb 12
I suspect people like old Bogeyes are little men who sit on their computer all day making themselves feel big by posting hate comments about people online. I bet you wouldn't get out of the car and dare to threaten me, but you would be "brave" enough to make a gesture at me? What you are doing is actually criminal activity by threatening or intimidating people, and I hope the Northern Echo will pass on your details to the Police.
Regardless, I hope Nathan gets well soon and it doesn't ruin his confidence so he gets out on his bike again.
always right
says...
3:42pm Sat 4 Feb 12
johnny_p wrote:Have you been drinking again ?. I have read every post on this article,and i find the only one that contains threats is YOURS. Keep off the drink/drugs is my advice to you !.
Some pretty stupid, ridiculous and childish comments from people here. I don't recall reading in the article that the lad "didn't have lights on", or that it was his fault in any way whatsoever. I suspect people like old Bogeyes are little men who sit on their computer all day making themselves feel big by posting hate comments about people online. I bet you wouldn't get out of the car and dare to threaten me, but you would be "brave" enough to make a gesture at me? What you are doing is actually criminal activity by threatening or intimidating people, and I hope the Northern Echo will pass on your details to the Police. Regardless, I hope Nathan gets well soon and it doesn't ruin his confidence so he gets out on his bike again.
always right
says...
3:52pm Sat 4 Feb 12
kristal27 wrote:I think you will find you are wrong again !. It is an offence to ride a bike without lights on at night,it is also very foolish to do so !. My advice to you is read the highway code !. Some cycles will travel at 30mph,can you imagine how a dopey car driver would stand a chance of seeing a bike without lights coming along the road at that speed !.
Its not a criminal offence to ride a bike with no lights on - it IS a criminal offence to leave an accident scene you are involved in - criminally and morally unacceptable and I hope someone dobs this moron in - and if the law won't deal with it then name and shame him and let friends and family of the lad get a hold of him.
rockfordIL
says...
5:33pm Sat 4 Feb 12
And was it a stunt that went wrong and he daren't tell his mam?
Just a thought...please don't crucify me. And, has anyone not realised old bogeyes is poking fun at you?
Heat1969
says...
8:33pm Sat 4 Feb 12
kristal27
says...
5:03pm Sun 5 Feb 12
Heat1969 wrote:EXACTLY!!!
I see the usual bunch of very opinionated 'I'm right and you're wrong, lets pick fault with everyone and everything' brigade have been on again. The main focus of this article, regardless of whether this lad had lights on his bike or not, is that the driver of the car FAILED TO STOP AT THE SCENE OF AN ACCIDENT
johnny_p
says...
4:59am Mon 6 Feb 12
always right wrote:Wrong. It is not a "criminal" offence to ride a bike without lights on. Also you are not required to use light in built up areas if there is street lighting.
kristal27 wrote:I think you will find you are wrong again !. It is an offence to ride a bike without lights on at night,it is also very foolish to do so !. My advice to you is read the highway code !. Some cycles will travel at 30mph,can you imagine how a dopey car driver would stand a chance of seeing a bike without lights coming along the road at that speed !.
Its not a criminal offence to ride a bike with no lights on - it IS a criminal offence to leave an accident scene you are involved in - criminally and morally unacceptable and I hope someone dobs this moron in - and if the law won't deal with it then name and shame him and let friends and family of the lad get a hold of him.
http://www.direct.go
v.uk/en/TravelAndTra
nsport/Highwaycode/D
G_070302
In any case there is absolutely no suggestion at all that this lad was doing anything wrong. And even if he wasn't wearing a helmet as one poster mentioned(which again, you are not required to wear) the issue here was that he was hit by a car which failed to stop. I think that is the "offence".
MrMorden
says...
1:19pm Mon 6 Feb 12
As for the comment of going round the estate knocking on doors to identify the culprit and then attacking the person...not clever vigilantism.
says...