A TODDLER was seriously injured in a collision with a car on Blackpool Promenade at the weekend.

Annas Faris, a 21-month-old girl from Tavistock Crescent, Nottingham, was in collision with a car driven by 57-year-old George McCaffer of Westwood Avenue, Poulton on Sunday at 5.05pm outside the Headlands Hotel, South Shore.

The toddler had stepped out from between parked cars into the path of the car. Because of her age and height, Mr McCaffer had not seen her and the two collided, said a Lancashire Police spokesman.

He said Mr McCaffer only realised what had happened when he "felt his car driving over her". He had then checked his rear view mirror and seen the child lying in the road.

A second driver managed to stop after seeing the girl, avoiding a further collision, the spokesman said.

Annas was taken to Blackpool Victoria Hospital's intensive care unit suffering from fractures to all three bones in her right leg, a fractured skull and a serious laceration to the right hand side of her head, which was thought might require plastic surgery. She was later transferred to Pendlebury Children's Hospital, Manchester.

The Lancashire Police spokesman said officers had already spoken to witnesses and it was clear no blame should be attached to Mr McCaffer.

He said: "Clearly the child has been unsupervised for that very short moment and did step into the road and clearly he Mr McCaffer couldn't avoid the collision."

He said Annas had initially been placed in the intensive care unit owing to her injuries. He added: "She is expected, we hope, to eventually make a full recovery despite the severity of her injuries."