Father of toddler killed in Tunnell Street to meet the Prime Minister

Wednesday 30 August 2017

The father of three-year-old Clinton Pringle who was run over and killed by a driver in Tunnell Street in June 2016 is to meet the Prime Minister on Tuesday.

Michael Pringle will be going to 10 Downing Street with a group of campaigners to hand in a petition aimed at getting shared-spaces banned in the UK.

The father of three-year-old Clinton Pringle, who died in June 2016, after being run over by Rebekah Le Gal in the shared-space area of Tunnell Street, said he has never been a fan of such layouts.

Speaking to the media after Mrs Le Gal received a eight-month suspended sentence, Mr Pringle said that although the defence, led by Advocate Matthew Jowitt, tried to use it as mitigation, the road layout wouldn't have made a difference to the accident. Clinton's father is convinced that Mrs Le Gal didn't see his son crossing the road because she was texting behind the wheel, something she was acquitted of during a trial in June.

Mr Pringle said: "The road layout would have only changed the way that Stacey and Clinton, as pedestrians that weren't familiar with the area, would have approached. The defence tried to use the layout as mitigation. It wasn’t. In fact it should have made a difference to the way the driver approached because as the Royal Court Commissioner said she should have been even more careful, more attentive when she approached that area but she wasn’t."

Pictured: The shared-space area on Tunnell Street, near where Clinton was fatally hit by a driver.

Now Mr Pringle has joined forces with a group of campaigners who have been fighting to make shared-spaces a thing of the past. Among them, Sarah Gayton and Sandy Taylor of East Dumbartonshire Visually Impaired People's Forum, who have been fighting against such layouts for years. Both were part of a shared-space seminar that gathered a range of delegates representing disabled person’s organisations, local authorities, planners, and street designers earlier this year.

The purpose of the seminar was to discuss shared spaces from a range of perspectives, including disabled people and public authorities and agree on how future shared space schemes could be designed to ensure access for all according to the final report.

The delegates concluded that pedestrians should be given a higher priority when it comes to road design and that shared-space should be introduced only if there is a reason for it, not as a way to avoid upsetting drivers. Pedestrianised areas and wider footways were cited as more appropriate alternatives.

The report says that kerbs and controlled crossings are necessary so that people of all ages can recognise them. During the seminar, several participants mentioned that shared-spaces affect the way vulnerable road-users, especially children or people with assistance dogs, understand road safety. Some say they felt road safety was compromised in the absence of distinguishing features, although there is no data to support this view.

Pictured: Three-year-old Clinton died from his injuries after a driver ran him over on Tunnell Street.

Mr Pringle was first contacted by the campaigners shortly after Clinton died but he initially refused to get "wrapped up" in the issue. However he decided to add his voice to the campaign to prevent any similar accidents from happening and supported the fight against a shared-space in Kirkintilloch where traffic lights have been removed. He has now agreed to travel to London to meet Theresa May to hand in a petition against shared-spaces in a bid to get them banned across the UK.

He told Express: "We need to do something about shared-spaces which are discriminatory against certain people such as children or people with disabilities. If adding my voice to the campaign can help and something good can come out of Clinton's death, we will try and make it happen."

But Mr Pringle will also be handing over a file on the Tunnell Street accident to the Prime Minister in the hope that she will get involved and prompt a review of the case. Mr Pringle and his wife Stacey were notified earlier this month by Jersey's Attorney General Robert MacRae that there was not sufficient grounds for him to refer Mrs Le Gal's acquittal to the Court of Appeal. Mr Pringle said: "It might be futile of me but I will keep on picking away. I owe it to my son and to anybody's child. The Royal Court has set a very dangerous precedent by acquitting Mrs Le Gal. To anyone that comes next, it means that you can text and drive without being held accountable for it."