Safe Speed Forums

Bike boy loses teeth in pothole smash
Dean Kirby

September 25, 2009

A MUM has criticised the state of the road outside her home after her son lost his two front teeth when his bike hit a pothole.

Charlie Jerdin, 11, was riding his BMX outside the house in Poynton, when his front wheel went into the hole.

He went straight over the handlebars and landed face first on the road more than six feet away - smashing out his top two teeth and damaging two others.

The youngster had to go to hospital but his dentist fears the chances of saving his front teeth are slim.

He has been so upset by the incident that he missed his first days of high school.

Mum Victoria Jerdin, who has had to throw out his bike, said: "If the pothole hadn't been there this wouldn't have happened. The council should have repaired it.

"He came home with his teeth in his hand. There was blood all over him and he was white with shock."

Charlie was not wearing a helmet when the crash happened in Barnaby Road.

His mum says Charlie was sent home from Macclesfield District General Hospital and told to see his family dentist the next day. She says she has now been told by a dentist that Charlie's teeth should have been put back in that night, which would have increased the chances of saving them.

He will have to undergo extensive dental surgery.

Victoria, 31, said: "I just want the holes in the road filling because I wouldn't like to see this happening to someone else's child. Charlie won't go back to school. He's frightened of people staring at him and calling him names. Children do fall off their bikes - I know that - but if that hole hadn't been there, this wouldn't have happened."

A spokesman for Cheshire East council said: "Potholes in the road which are 50mm deep or greater are repaired or made safe within 24 hours. For footpaths the intervention level is 25mm. On inspection a shallow depression of 35mm was found on Barnaby Road which does not fall within the criteria for immediate repair."

A spokeswoman for East Cheshire NHS Trust confirmed that Charlie had attended the A&E department at Macclesfield District General Hospital.

She said: "There is no dental service within the hospital. The normal advice given would be for the patient to visit their own dentist as soon as possible."

Charlie was not wearing a helmet when the crash happened in Barnaby Road.

And what is the relevance of

Well, lad was riding a BMX, which is designed to be unstable. He could have just as easily knocked his teeth out on the kerb. Life is dangerous, sometimes you just have to take the knocks.

I suspect that if J Bonnington Jagworth had suffered damage to the suspension of his Speedine Super Six because of a pothole then this forum would be full of posts condemning the Highway Authority for maintaining the road properly.

I suspect that if J Bonnington Jagworth had suffered damage to the suspension of his Speedine Super Six because of a pothole then this forum would be full of posts condemning the Highway Authority for maintaining the road properly.

I would expect a reported pothole to be mended as it was when I was a boy all he same.