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Two pensioners have told of their ordeal of being rammed by a mobility scooter in a bizarre incident.
Daphne Pike, 69, was first hit from behind and then on the side after she confronted the woman rider in Folkestone.
Then the rider mowed down Begona Sanchez de Evans who is in her 80s.
The unidentified woman, who is thought to be in her 60s, then took off.
She had said nothing through the incident but, witnesses said, had given a “hard, grim stare.”
Mrs Pike said: “I am very angry about this. She had a very heavy scooter and seemed to be going fast. If a small child had been hit they would not have survived.”
“I am very angry about this. If a small child had been hit they would not have survived...” - Daphne Pike
Spanish-born Mrs Sanchez de Evans said: “She saw I had a walking stick yet if she has a mobility scooter she must be incapacitated too. She should know better.”
Police are now appealing for the public’s help to trace the rider, who struck her victims in a town centre crowded with Christmas shoppers. It happened at 3.30pm, on Monday, December 22 outside the KFC restaurant in Sandgate Road.
Mrs Pike, of Grove Road, Folkestone, said: “When she first went straight into me I grabbed her handlebars to keep my balance.
“I shouted at her, ‘What are you doing to my legs?’ She slapped by hand away from the handlebars and looked straight at me.
They she reversed and went into me again, on my left side. She never said a word and she had a grim face, showing no emotion.”
Mrs Pike had managed to keep her balance both times but the rider went onto knock down Mrs Sanchez de Evans.
The two victims had been strangers until that day and were walking separately towards the town centre precinct, Mrs Sanchez de Evans with her husband Ronald Evans, 84.
Mrs Sanchez de Evans, of Coniston Road, Folkestone, said: “Before I knew what happened she struck me on my right side and I fell. Then three or four passers-by came to my aid. Someone got a chair from KFC and they sat me down.”
Mr Evans, was walking slightly ahead when his wife was knocked down.
He said: “I turned to the rider before I realised she had done this. I said the her, ‘what happened?’ She didn’t say anything but she looked really grim-faced and gave me a nasty, grim stare. Then she just took off.”
Mrs Pike, who is epileptic, did not need hospital treatment but suffered severe bruising on both legs and a severe gash to her left heel.
"I have been a police officer for 16 years and have never come across anything like this before..." - PC Kate Broadbridge
Mrs Sanchez de Evans suffered a severely sprained ankle, has needed regular visits to hospital since and is now walking on a crutch.
After a number of sightings and possible lines of enquiry officers have not been able to trace the rider.
PC Kate Broadbridge said: “These ladies have really suffered as a result of the incident and I’m very keen to trace the woman who was riding the scooter who failed to stop after crashing into them.
“I have been a police officer for 16 years and have never come across anything like this before. It is not even clear why this happened but we need to prevent it from happening again.”
PC Broadbridge said she also wanted to thank the bystanders who aided the victims.
The rider is described as a white woman aged in her 60s, of medium or large build and a plump face.
She was wearing a brown woollen hat, a yellow camel coat, laced shoes and glasses riding a metallic burgundy mobility scooter described as “bigger than average.”
Anyone who knows the identity of the rider is asked to contact PC Kate Broadbridge on 07870 252452.
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