A CAMERAMAN has told how his daughter is lucky to be alive after she was injured in an accident with a car in a Weymouth road.

Caitlin Robins, 11, of Hardy Avenue, was left with a fractured scull and hip following the accident in Radipole Park Drive at around 5pm on August 8.

She was rushed to Dorset County Hospital in Dorchester and underwent emergency surgery.

But this week Caitlin was well enough to turn up for her first day at Wey Valley School.

Dad Ian, 40, said: "The intensive care staff said she was very lucky to be alive.

"The car was under the speed limit and Caitlin came out from behind a bush.

"We were expecting her to be in hospital for at least three weeks. But instead she was ready to leave after only eight days."

"We would love to say a thank you to all the people who contributed towards her speedy recovery - to the bicycle paramedic who was the first on the scene, the ambulance staff, the intensive care team and of course the nurses on the Kingfisher ward at Dorset County Hospital."

Mr Robins, a cameraman for ITV Westcountry, said Caitlin would be in a wheelchair for about two months.

He added: "Wey Valley have been great. She has been allowed to leave her lessons five minutes early so she can get her chair to her next lesson without having to negotiate the hustle and bustle of all the other pupils. Her first day at Wey Valley was happier as it was unlikely she would have been fit enough to attend.

"Thanks to the efforts of her friends and the school she will continue her classes as normal in her wheelchair for the next two months.

"By then she should have made a full recovery."

Caitlin's accident caused heavy congestion around Radipole Park Drive.

Police sealed the road off at the King Street roundabout and lower down near a section of speed humps for more than four hours.