A five-year-old girl was lucky to escape serious injury when a concrete bollard fell on her foot as she played with friends.

Nicole Joseph suffered a sprained ankle and bruising in the incident, yards from her home in Kingsdale Drive, Bolton, Bradford.

The youngster, a pupil at Grove House Primary, now faces two weeks off school while her injuries heal.

Parents Tracey and Gary say their daughter's injuries could have been more serious and fear the incident could even have ended in tragedy.

Mr Joseph said: "The bollard is solid concrete and about three feet tall. It can withstand the weight of a car and could have crushed Nicole to death."

He said Nicole had just finished school and had gone outside to play with friends when the incident happened.

"A neighbour came running to the house, saying there had been an accident. Nicole was in tears," he said.

"We took her to Bradford Royal Infirmary. The doctors said she was lucky to get away with a sprain and bruising.

"Her foot's all bandaged up and she's been told to rest for two weeks.

"Bollards are meant to be anchored by four metal rods. To look at it you wouldn't think it was possible for it to topple over.

"There's obviously a safety issue here."

Mrs Joseph has had to take time off work at Manningham Clinic, where she had just gone full time, to look after Nicole.

She said: "My husband looks after Nicole in the mornings and then I finish at 1pm to take over. She is in so much pain we have to stay awake with her during the night and then I go to work really tired.

"The whole incident has really taken its toll."

A Bradford Council highways spokesman said: "This was an unfortunate incident.

"The broken bollard was only reported to us after the incident. It has now been removed and will be replaced next week."

The spokesman added: "The bollard is there to prevent vehicles cutting the corner by mounting the footway."