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A mum says her 13-year-old son is lucky to be alive after he was hit by a car on an estate.
Kirsty Georgiades is now calling for urgent action to be taken to reduce the speed of vehicles driving through the Thistle Hill development at Minster on Sheppey.
Her son, Harvey, had been walking with a friend along a path in Nettle Way at about 4.30pm on Friday, May 28 when he was struck by a car.
The Oasis Academy pupil, who broke his right tibia and fibula bones in three places, was rushed to Medway hospital in Gillingham before undergoing an operation at London’s King’s College Hospital.
Mrs Georgiades, who lives on the estate, said: “Harvey is very lucky to be alive.
“As well as the breaks, a bone pierced the skin and he was bleeding too fast.
“An ambulance was called and it said there would be a two-hour wait but my husband Yianni, who is trauma trained due to being ex-military, said he wouldn’t have lasted two hours.”
Mrs Georgiades said they rushed Harvey to Medway hospital by car and, on arrival, he was taken to children’s A&E.
“It was the most terrifying thing,” she said. “There were about 30 people, including doctors, nurses, trauma teams and resus teams, in the room trying to control the bleeding.
“As soon as they’d done that, there was an ambulance waiting and he was blue-lighted to King’s.”
The following morning, Harvey underwent a three-hour operation to have a metal plate and pins fitted. He was in hospital for six days.
Mrs Georgiades said her son, an amateur boxer, would need another operation in six to 12 months to remove the plate and would, more than likely, need further procedures to correct his leg as he grows.
“Something seriously needs to be done to slow the traffic down on this estate; my son was lucky, but the next child might not be...”
Harvey is now not able to put any pressure on his leg for 12 weeks, after which he will need to have physiotherapy to walk on it again.
The mother-of-four said: “It’s an uncertain future for him now, but it really could’ve been so much worse.
“Something seriously needs to be done to slow the traffic down on this estate; my son was lucky, but the next child might not be.”
She added: “It needs higher speed bumps or bumps closer together, or even cameras.
“We’ve got the school here, a community centre, Co-op and a park; it’s a residential area surrounded by children. Something needs to be put in place to slow people down.”
Cllr Elliott Jayes (Swale Ind), who represents Sheppey Central, which covers Thistle Hill, said he, too, thinks something needs to be done to make the estate, which has a 30mph limit, safer.
He said: “I would like to see a 20mph speed zone round there, like they’ve got in Halfway, and I am hoping to get that into Minster Parish Council’s Highways Improvement Plan next month.”
Cllr Jayes said he had previously tried to get Kent County Council to implement yellow lines around the estate, but was told there would need to be three people killed or seriously injured before any action was taken.
He added: “Residents regularly complain about speeding cars and dangerous driving there.
“The design of the roads, that they’re curved, and the number of parked cars around the estate adds to the problem.
“If there were fewer parked cars, at least drivers would have places to go to avoid a head-on collision – that’s why I’ve been trying to get yellow lines. Something needs to be done.”
Police confirmed officers were called to the collision at 4.45pm on May 28.
A spokesman added: “The child was taken to hospital and treated for a serious leg injury.
“The driver stopped following the collision and a police investigation is ongoing.”
No charges have been brought.
