Boy’s lucky escape after crash on Queens Drive on way to school

Brandon-Lee Russell was on his way to school on Wednesday morning when a Nissan X-Trail smashed into the barriers at the pedestrian crossing next to the Co-Op on Queens Drive. The 11-year-old narrowly avoided being hit by the flying debris. With this being the second crash in the same area in just a few weeks, his mother Leigh is calling for changes to be made to the road before someone is killed.

The car at the scene following the crash on Queen’s Drive. (Image: Public submission) “I could have been dealing with a different situation if Brandon was standing just a bit closer,” she told the Adver. “It shouldn’t take a fatality for change to happen, instead we need a lollipop lady or man guarding the area.

“People may say that no one would want to do that job but I’d do it myself as it would only take a couple of hours to guarantee the safety of everyone’s children. “Car parts had flown past his head and this scared me massively. “Even though this didn’t physically injure him, I am still worried about his mental health after witnessing the crash.”

Leigh Russell and her son Brandon-Lee the morning after the crash. (Image: Leigh Russell) After the crash, panicked Brandon-Lee called his mum before dashing off to school. His mum rushed to the scene of the crash, finding the wreckage of the car around ten minutes later.

“When I heard it was a crash I ran the exact route he goes to school to check if he was okay,” she said. The damaged traffic lights on Wednesday afternoon. (Image: Dave Cox) “My heart dropped, it fell into my stomach and I felt both sick and dizzy as I just wanted to make sure my kid was alright.

“I am quite a big woman and I suffer from asthma but that didn’t stop me from getting there since I was so panicked. “The car had crashed into the traffic lights which were destroyed and there were a lot of people standing around looking.” The Queen’s Drive traffic lights being fixed on Thursday morning. (Image: Public submission)

The 35-year-old mum-of-three then headed towards her son’s school. “My son only runs off when he wants to cry so I was worried and he broke down, shaking and crying to me,” said Leigh. “He said he was scared and that he could hear kids in the car so he wanted to make sure that they were okay which was confirmed to us by the police later.

Wiltshire Police confirmed that officers were called to the scene after the crash, at roughly 8.40am on Wednesday.

They said no injuries were reported to them.