A father today told of the bedside vigil for his 12-year-old son left unable to speak and suffering suspected brain damage after running into the path of a car.

John Hardaker and his wife Maureen have been with their son John in intensive care desperately waiting to talk to him for the first time since the accident on the day before New Year's Eve.

The youngster suffered his injuries after running into the path of a Ford Orion while trying to retrieve a hat from the middle of the road near his home in Laisterdyke.

Today, his father John, 39, said: "The whole family is devastated at the moment. It's just been such a shock. We've just muddled through but it's just been one big blur.

"My wife's distraught because John is the baby of the family. She can't talk about it."

John junior, of Steadman Terrace, had crossed the road to go to a local chip shop with a friend but panicked as he stopped to pick up his hat and a car coming down the road sounded his horn at him. He then ran into the path of the Orion.

He was taken to Bradford Royal Infirmary and transferred on the same day to St James's Hospital in Leeds where his broken left leg had a plate and pins inserted.

On Sunday, he was moved to Leeds General Infirmary for a brain and neck scan after doctors were worried he couldn't move his right leg.

His parents have spent six days staying in the hospital's family flats but doctors have been unable to take him off sedatives so he can speak to them.

John was due back at the Yorkshire Martyrs School today where he and his brother Nicholas, 15, are pupils. His eldest brother Christopher, 18, has also been at his bedside.

Mr Hardaker, who works as a steel erector, said: "John was screaming when I arrived at the crash but when they got him in the ambulance he went quiet. He's been sedated ever since.

"The doctors were hoping to bring him around on New Year's Day but the pressure in his head was too much. That was another kick in the teeth because he could only look at us and squeeze our hands up until then."

He said his son's asthma meant fluid had collected on his lungs while he was on a ventilator. The fluid had to be cleared before he could be brought round.

"They did manage to bring him around on Sunday when we weren't there but then this problem with his right leg came up," Mr Hardaker said.

Kenneth Hardaker, 68, John's granddad, said it had been a sickening time for the whole family over what should have been a time of celebration for the new Millennium.

A Leeds General Infirmary spokesman said John's condition was "stable" today.

The police are treating the incident as an accident but are appealing for witnesses. Call Bradford Central police station helpdesk on (01274) 376459.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.