Hit-and-run horror prompts teenager's family to appeal

Jack Connor, 14, of Cottam, who was knocked off his bike and left in the road

Yesterday, the Evening Post reported how 43-year-old Adrian Smith was left with extensive face and hand injuries after being knocked off his bike in Ribbleton Lane by a silver VW Golf.

Julie Connor then contacted the Evening Post to say her 14-year-old son Jack was knocked off his bike by a silver VW 4x4 on July 21, and left unconscious in Lightfoot Lane, Cottam.

As well as conscussion, Jack also suffered a dislocated collarbone, a broken left wrist and cuts and bruises.

Mrs Connor said that similarly to Mr Smith’s family, she has also struggled to get police action.

Mrs Connor, from Cottam, said: “The policeman took a statement and said he would be in touch, but four or five days later still hadn’t come back to me. When I enquired, I found out he’d gone on holiday and there was nobody else dealing with it.

“Later on I asked whether enquiries had been made at local building sites, because Jack remembered the driver wearing a hi-vis jacket, and was told he’d been once but the office was closed.

“He’s not been back since and I don’t know if any CCTV has been checked.

“When I asked why, I was told ‘there’s only so much we can do’. I believe that it would have taken for my son to have died to have made this more a priority.”

Jack, a pupil at Broughton High School, remembers the silver VW approaching him as he cycled along Lightfoot Lane, the collision, and then the driver checking he was breathing before driving off.

The driver is descrived as “not young”, wearing a hi-vis jacket, with brown and grey hair and beard.

Nobody at the police has been available for comment.

If anyone can help with either case, call 101.