A MOTORIST tearfully told an inquest he had no time to react when a nine-year-old boy ran into the path of his car.

An inquest at Accrington Town Hall into the death of Philip Edward Holmes, of Station Road, Huncoat, heard how driver George Dodds ‘didn’t have time to brake or swerve to avoid him’.

Mr Dodds, also from Huncoat, had been looking after his grandson in Great Harwood until his daughter came home from work around 5pm.

He told the inquest that he had driven his Ford Focus about 100 yards away from the railway crossing, along Station Road and was travelling at 20mph due to traffic.

Mr Dodds said: “He just ran out in front of me. There was nothing I could do.

"I spoke to the boy’s mother and said I’m sorry. It was the worst moment of my life. I’m absolutely devastated by what happened.”

A number of witness statements all described seeing Philip and at least one other young child on the pavement, close to a blue Transit van before the Huncoat Primary School pupil ‘bolted’ across the road.

Philip’s mother Judith Holmes told the inquest that her son had been playing with friends from 3.30pm until 5.10pm, when she went to call him for his tea.

She went back into the house, but minutes later her daughter came running in to say Philip had been knocked down.

She said: “He was mostly sensible but sometimes he would forget himself and run across the road.”

College student Anisha Khan, told the inquest Philip ‘came out of nowhere’.

She said: “His mum called him by his name, told him to squeeze her hand.

"He tried to sit up when he heard the ambulance, but she told him to lie down because he’d hurt his head.”

Accident investigator PC Richard Harrison confirmed Mr Dodds was driving below the 30mph limit and was ‘unable to avoid’ the collision.

Coroner Michael Singleton gave the cause of death as a traumatic brain injury and an accidental verdict.

He told Mrs Holmes ‘do not let the tears and grief wash away nine happy and glorious years’, and he told Mr Dodds ‘do not destroy yourself on the if onlys’.