Boy, 16, fighting for life after horror quad bike crash with eight-year-old cyclist in Croydon

Staff reporter(wp/es):

A teenager is fighting for his life after a horror crash with an eight-year-old cyclist in Croydon.

The 16-year-old boy was driving down Cheston Avenue in Shirley on a quad bike when he lost control, mounted the pavement and smashed into the young cyclist, according to police.

Eyewitnesses told the Croydon Advertiser that the eight-year-old boy was thrown into the air by the force of the impact.

The quad bike’s driver was unable to stop and smashed into a nearby bus shelter.

Witnesses rushed to help the the teenager, and the boy was comforted by the side of the road by his mother after the crash on Monday afternoon.

Emergency crews rushed to the scene where paramedics treated the teenager before taking him to Croydon University Hospital with “life threatening injuries”. 

The boy was also taken to hospital with minor injuries.

A spokesman for the Met Police said: “Police were called at around 3.50pm on Monday January 2nd to a report of a collision between a quad bike and a pedestrian at Cheston Avenue junction with Wickham Road, Shirley.

“Officers attended along with the London Ambulance Service.

“The 16-year-old male rider injured at the location and was taken to a south London hospital where he remains. His injuries are being treated as life threatening.

“The pedestrian - an eight-year-old boy - was also taken to a south London hospital with minor injuries.

“Officers from the Serious Collisions Investigations Unit are investigating. There have been no arrests.”

A spokesman for London Ambulance Service said: “We were called at 3.54pm on Monday January 2 to reports of a road traffic collision in Wickham Road.

“We sent an ambulance crew to the scene, which arrived in under a minute.

“We treated a teenage boy at the scene and took him as a priority to a hospital in south London.

“A second patient, a child, was also taken to hospital.”