A SEVEN year old girl was struck by a car on Commercial Road in a hit and run incident.

At around 3pm the girl was attempting to cross the zebra crossing on the busy town centre street when a car hit her at speed and drove off without stopping.

Police remained at the scene for over an hour while they made enquiries, and a 24-year-old man has now been identified as the driver. He was taken into police supervision for interview yesterday and has now been bailed pending further enquiries.

The girl suffered minor leg injuries as a result of the collision and was taken to Great Western Hospital for treatment.

Andrew Careswell, manging director of Field Recruitment, saw the incident and he and his staff helped the girl while they waited for emergency services.

“I was looking out of our window at the time and what caught my eye was a little girl wearing the same school uniform as my daughter,” he said. “It turns out she knows my son. While I was watching there was a forklift truck from one of the building sites that stopped to let them cross. There were three girls and one adult in a group.

“A car came screaming down the road, I’d estimate going abour 50 miles an hour. They were halfway across the road, with the little girl a step in front, and he clipped her. He just kept going.”

Andrew and his colleagues ran down and distracted the girl with pictures on their phones and chatted about films until the police and ambulance arrived.

“If she had been one step further she would have been dead,” said Andrew. “He didn’t stop at the time, but a colleague saw him drive back round, slow down to have a look and then drive off again. She took the registration number and gave it to police.

“This sort of thing happens every day, and our staff go through health and safety training just on that crossing because we have an office on either side.

“That could have been one of our kids, and all they need to do is put a raised section in there, anything to slow people down.”

A spokesman for Wiltshire Police said: “We were called at 3pm on Thursday to reports of a car in collision with a seven year old girl on Commercial Road.

“The vehicle collided with the girl as she crossed the road at the pedestrian crossing and then left the scene. The girl was taken to hospital with minor foot injuries.

“Following police enquiries, a 24 year old male was identified as the driver and was interviewed on Friday.”

Any witnesses are asked to contact Wiltshire Police on non-emergency number 101.

A spokesman for the South West Ambulance Service said: “The seven-year-old female, who suffered leg injuries, was taken to Great Western Hospital shortly after 3.30pm by land ambulance.”