A BOY of eight critically injured after running out in front of a car has amazed his family family by recovering in time to be home for Christmas.

Tom Tate, of Eastry Close, Allington, Maidstone, suffered serious head injuries and spent almost a week in intensive care in a London hospital following the accident on November 30. For the first 72 hours his parents, Amanda and Ian, could only sit and wait to see if he would pull through with no permanent brain damage.

Tom, a pupil at Allington Primary School, had been walking to the sweet shop with his brother Leiam, 10, when he realised he had forgotten his sweet money. Running home to get it, he ran out in front of the car just metres from his house.

Mrs Tate, 36, said: "I heard the bang and was just waiting for Leiam to knock on the door. The driver was really traumatised and was already on the phone. It must have been really terrible for him."

Tom was taken to Maidstone Hospital and then transferred to the specialist neurology department at King's College, London. Surgeoans put a bolt in his fractured skull, plates in both his fractured thigh bones and opened up his inflamed stomach. Mrs Tate said: "We knew he was in the best of hands. The care he received from start to finish was just incredible."

Less than three weeks after the accident he is back home. Despite being virtually bed-ridden for the next four weeks, he is in good spirits and looking forward to Christmas at home.

Mr Tate added: "We thought he would be in hospital over Christmas and New Year so we were really pleased when we got him out. We have let Father Christmas know he is back home. Tom was worried about that."