A SIX-YEAR-OLD narrowly escaped being run over at the same set of traffic lights where his younger brother was hit 16 months ago.

Lewis Sullivan was on his way home to Glebe Avenue from Woodford Wells School in Woodford Green with his four-year-old brother Owen and granddad Chris Wallis, 64.

As the trio crossed Broadmead Road at the junction of Broomhill Road, Mr Wallis spotted a car speeding towards Lewis.

He said: “I made sure he waited for the green man so I thought there was nothing to worry about.

“But then I saw a couple of cars coming towards him, and one definitely wasn’t slowing down.”

Mr Wallis dashed in front of the oncoming car, raising his hand in a desperate plea for it to stop, and the vehicle screeched to a halt just yards from little Lewis.

Mr Wallis said: “I rushed over to ask the driver what he was doing.
“He just said ‘Sorry, I didn’t see the light.’

“The visor over the red light had slipped down obscuring it, and it was clear he’d missed it.”

The boys’ mum Clare Sullivan, 37, says the visor has been broken for at least three weeks.

She added: “It’s one of those things you see and think ‘that should have been fixed’ and I am a bit angry with myself for not reporting it.

“But someone should be checking these lights for faults regularly anyway.”

Mrs Sullivan’s other son Owen was lucky to escape serious injury after being dragged along the road by a car at the same crossing last June.

On that occasion an overgrown tree had obscured the traffic light and a motorist hit Owen as he crossed the road with Lewis and the family’s au pair.

The Corporation of London cut the tree back after the accident, but while TfL are responsible for the maintenance of the lights, Mrs Sullivan says she wants both organisations to do more to maintain the crossing.

She explained: “People come around that corner at real speed.

“I would like to see something warning motorists that there is a crossing before they turn – flashing lights maybe.

“But more regular checks also need to be made. There’s no way a traffic light should stay broken for this long.

“Owen and Lewis were lucky, but I really do believe it is only a matter of time before someone is killed there.”

TfL fixed the light after the Guardian informed them it was broken.

We are currently awaiting a statement from TfL.

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