A TEENAGER who had sneaked out of school during break-time was injured as she tried to run across a busy road.

Beth Peerman, 14, was left in a critical condition after being knocked down on the A350 near Leekes on Tuesday, just seconds after she and two other pupils were spotted by a teacher. Eyewitnesses said the teenager was thrown like "a rag doll" by the impact of the crash and motorists, including an off-duty nurse, rushed to help.

Beth, a Year 9 pupil at The George Ward School in Melksham, suffered serious head injuries and was airlifted to Frenchay Hospital in Bristol. She was put on a life support machine and underwent surgery to release pressure on her brain, with her mother Gerry and stepfather Colin by her side, and was being kept sedated.

Beth, from Padfield Gardens, Melksham, was running back to school with two other pupils after being caught buying food from the BP garage by a teacher. Ruth Perry, a religious studies teacher, was filling up with petrol at the garage. She said: "I saw the three of them in the garage and I knew they were not allowed out of school so I told them to go back to school right away."

An eyewitness said the children went to run across the road, and that the two boys paused but Beth continued straight into the path of an oncoming car. Mrs Perry said: "I contacted the school so the parents could be informed and so I could get her details for the ambulance crew."

Kerry Pearce, a community nurse, of Valient Close, Melksham, saw the accident happen and was one of the first to give Beth first aid.

Stephen Heaton, 39, from West Yorkshire, was driving behind the car that hit Beth. "She was thrown into the air like a rag doll and hit the windscreen then rolled onto the ground." he said.

Neighbour Barbara Thomas, 66, said: "She's quite a happy girl and always speaks to you if you pass her in the street." Marion Collins, 67, said: "It's such a shame, they've had a lot of bad luck recently." A friend of the family said Beth had regained consciousness and early indications were she suffered no major injuries. Her condition is described as stable.

Margaret Bryant, press officer and head of design and technology at George Ward, said: "Children are not allowed out of school unless they have a special pass. "We have spoken to the local shops about not selling to the children, but they say they have no idea who is and isn't allowed out of school."

Police are examining a silver Volvo involved in the crash, which was being driven by a 74-year-old man from Gloucestershire, who was unhurt. The section of the A350 from the crash scene to the Whitehall Garden Centre near Lacock was closed for more than four hours.

  • In a separate incident on the same day, a 14-year-old Warminster School pupil was knocked down by a car outside the school gates in Church Street and was airlifted to the RUH, Bath.

The boy, a foreign student from Hong Kong, was thought to have suffered serious head injuries. He underwent surgery on Wednesday afternoon for lacerations to his head and a dislocated shoulder, and is said to be stable.