The parents of a young girl forced to swerve her scooter off a pavement to avoid overgrown trees have hit out at the council after she was left with a “smashed-up face” after falling to the ground.

Eleven-year-old Annalise had to take evasive action as low-hanging branches blocked her path in Sunnyhill Road, Herne Bay, as she rode to a dance lesson.

But when she swerved onto the verge her wheels became stuck in the grass, sending her flying over her handlebars and into the road.

The accident left her with nasty cuts and bruises to her face.

Dad Jack Keam says the responsibility lies with Canterbury City Council, which owns the land the trees are on and had failed to cut them back.

“Because they haven’t done their job, it resulted in my kid's face being smashed up,” the 28-year-old said.

“We’ve been complaining about this for weeks. It’s been covering the footpath for months.

“We saw an old lady with a walker have to go into the road to get past it.

“People that are disabled can't get across the road quickly - they rely on the public path being clear.

“I'm just annoyed. Why haven't they done anything? And now my daughter’s injured.

“I thought about going there and doing it myself, but I can't touch it because I'm then liable if anything else goes wrong.”

Mr Keam, who was walking behind Annalise with his five-month-old son Hughie at the time of the accident, says the trees have also been blocking anyone pushing a pram or using a wheelchair.

Annlaise’s mum, Kasey Evans, says her daughter – who has autism – was forced to miss her class at Swagga Dance Academy, which has “set her back”.

“She’s got a black eye and it’s quite sore,” the 28-year-old said.

“The first night it didn't look as bad but now it’s quite swollen. Under her eye is puffy.

“She couldn’t go to dance after it happened and that’s part of her routine.

“It was a pretty bad day for her. She’s still in pain and has been very emotional.”

CCC was alerted to the incident and sent contractors to cut back the trees yesterday (Friday).

But Mr Keam - a self-employed plasterer - said: “It's all well and good them going and doing it now, but they need to keep doing it.

“The branches that are coming off the tree grow really quickly.

“If they don’t want to maintain them, just cut them down.

“They're not really serving a purpose anyway where they are - they're too close to the path and are so weirdly placed.”

CCC spokesman Robert Davies says the authority took swift action after learning of the accident.

“We are sorry to hear of this incident and hope the young lady is recovering well,” he said yesterday.

"These trees are on city council-owned land and we were made aware of the issue earlier this week.

"We immediately made arrangements for them to be cut back and this work was completed yesterday.

"Residents can report problems like this on our land by calling us directly on 01227 862000."