Mother of child killed on Co Antrim road had warned her children were in danger

The mother of a child killed in a road traffic accident in Co Antrim contacted unionist politician Jim Allister last month to warn that her children would be "wiped out" if school run rules were not changed.

The Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) leader said he was "angry and distressed" that arrangements were not made to facilitate the family.The mother and her six children were struck by a car while they were walking to a school bus yesterday morning.

The PSNI later confirmed that eight-year-old Adam Gilmour died in hospital. His mother Sarah Hanna, who was taken to the Causeway Hospital in Coleraine, is in a "serious" condition.

Four of the children are also being treated in hospital while the sixth child is being cared for by a family member. A seventh child attends another school and was not with them at the time

Arrest

An 18-year-old man was arrested following the incident which happened at 8.35am on the Loughill road in Cloughmills near Ballymena.

The mother and six children, one of them in a buggy, were walking into Clough Mills to catch the school bus to Clough primary school when they were hit by the car. Five of the six children were going to school. TUV leader Mr Allister said that in mid-October the mother of the children came to him very concerned that the school bus could not make a detour of a half mile up a road to collect her children from her home. Instead, Ms Hanna felt compelled to walk along a dangerous road to take her children to the bus in Clough Mills.

School bus runs

School bus runs are managed by the North’s education and library boards.

“Just three weeks ago the mother called at my office and warned that because the education and library board was failing to provide transport for her children they would be ‘wiped out’ some morning on the road,” said Mr Allister, a North Antrim Assembly member.

“The lady was particularly concerned that this situation was continuing into the winter months. I am most distressed that her words have proved to be much more prophetic than anyone would have thought.”

Mr Allister said he wrote to the transport department of the North Eastern Education and Library Board “highlighting the fact that she had to bring five children to meet the school bus in Cloughmills”.

The board confirmed that Mr Allister had been in correspondence about Ms Hanna’s concerns. It said it had “been reviewing transport provision in the Cloughmills area”.