Victim's family seeks phone ban

Lynda Hudd remembers her daughter

Rebekka Hudd would have been 16 on Tuesday.

Instead of a birthday party, the occasion has been marked by the opening of a memorial garden.

Rebekka was knocked down and killed when she was 11 by a driver using a mobile phone while at the wheel.

The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (Rospa) is now pressing the government to change the law and ban drivers from using mobiles.

Rebekka's picture is set in stone

David Powell, who knocked Rebekka down with a four-wheel-drive vehicle, was fined £250.

Powell, then 42, of Frenchay Park Road, Bristol, admitted careless driving.

He was also given six penalty points on his driving licence.

The land for the garden opposite Rebekka's home in Pucklechurch, near Bristol, was donated by the Home Office.

'Wonderful tribute'

The dead girl's mother Lynda and her ex-husband Bob thanked the Home Office.

Mrs Hudd said: "It is a wonderful tribute to Rebekka.

"We hope it will provide a place for peace and reflection, but also remind people about what happened to her and the dangers of mobile phones.

The garden was built by the Home Office

"There should be a law to ban the use of mobile phones while driving so that other families do not have to suffer in the way that we have done."

RoSPA's head of road safety Kevin Clinton said: "There is currently no specific offence relating to mobile phones and driving.

"New legislation would make it crystal clear that mobiles should be switched off when drivers are at the wheel."

Rebekka's garden features a memorial stone bearing her picture.

It has been created in St Aldams Drive, Pucklechurch near a "children crossing" road sign.