IN November 2006, parents of a toddler who was run over by a buggy in a hit and run incident spoke of their anguish.

“We could have been burying our son this week,” said mum Emma West, of Wotton-under-Edge.

Two-year old Colby was trapped under a buggy in a hit and run incident, on November 22, when an elderly man drove over him, as reported in the Gazette.

Colby had been out shopping with mum, Emma, 25.

She said: “Colby was pushing his scooter on the pavement. We stopped to let the man in the buggy go by. He stopped, but when he sped forward and went straight over the scooter, pulling Colby under the buggy.

“I pulled up the front of the buggy, so high that the man almost fell off. I couldn’t let go and just hoped that someone would pull Colby from under the wheels.

“I don’t know how I had the strength to pick it up.

“The back wheels were spinning, but a lady was able to drag him from under before the man just drove off.

“Colby was crying and screaming. His bottom was black, his face was marked from hitting the pavement and he had a tyre mark running over his shoulder.

“We took him to the doctors and he was amazed that it wasn’t worse. If the buggy had gone over his chest we could have been burying him this week.”

Colby has recovered well and is a bright and bubbly boy, but he still won’t talk about the day he was run over. Emma said: “He won’t talk about it. He just buries his head or changes the subject if you mention it.”

She wants changes to the rules on who can have the motorised buggy.

“We should have checks on whether people are safe to drive these things. You tell children not to walk on the road, and then they get hurt on the pavement.”

John, Colby’s dad, added: “We want to know why the man did it? He must have known my son was under the buggy. If he’s not well, then at least we would have an idea why it happened.”