AN eight-year-old boy from Oswaldtwistle was left bruised and shaken by a "hit-and-run" driver as he went to buy his mum an Easter egg.

Police said Ryan Collier, of Wordsworth Close, was struck by a silver car in nearby Thwaites Road at 5.25pm on Monday, and was treated in hospital for bruises and cuts.

His mother Lynette Evans today claimed the woman driver stopped to give her son a ticking-off before driving away.

Ryan had gone to the shops with his 11-year-old brother Adam and had returned home to get an extra £1 from his mum. He was crossing Thwaites Road on his way back to meet Adam at a shop when the accident happened. She said: "Ryan said he looked both ways but the woman was driving fast and the car hit him."

Mrs Evans, a dinnerlady at Moor End County Primary School where Ryan is a pupil, said: "Ryan said she got out of the car and called him a 'stupid little boy'. She asked if he was all right then drove off. It is terrible. She could at least have brought him home or told me about it.

"Ryan did his best to describe the woman and the car for the police but he could only tell them so much because he is just eight years old."

Mrs Evans, who has two other children -- Michael, 14, and Kirsty, seven -- borrowed £5 from a neighbour so she could take Ryan to Blackburn Royal Infirmary in a taxi.

Ryan was today recovering at home with a swollen jaw and cuts to his mouth, hip and hand.

Sergeant Gary Makin of Accrington police's road safety unit said they were treating the incident as a "hit and run". Anyone with information should call 01254 353764.