RETIRED couple Mike and Pauline Barnatt are in shock after a man was seriously injured after walking out into the path of their car.
The couple – who appeared on the Telegraph's front page yesterday because their new Kia was vandalised by youths and it took the police 60 hours to respond – were today full of praise for Humberside Police.
Pauline, 62, of Broadway, Grimsby, was driving the couple's red Kia Picanto on the way home from their son's barbecue when a man walked out between parked cars – straight into the path of her vehicle.
The man, understood to be 23 years old, was seriously injured in the collision at 7.40pm on Sunday on Cambridge Road, Grimsby.
He was treated at the scene by paramedics while traffic officers comforted the couple.
An off-duty doctor was also at the scene and treated the man who was later taken to hospital.
Mike, 70, said: "The police were brilliant.
"They took us home and the traffic officer was wonderful. He even called back at after 11pm to see that we were OK.
"Pauline is still like a limp dishcloth, and we both get flashbacks.
"Every time I close my eyes, I see the man's face heading towards the windscreen."
He estimated the speed of the car to be 25mph at the time.
Pauline said: "There was no time to react.
"Everyone was so supportive. We wish to thank everyone and say how grateful we are. You never think it will happen to you."
She said the victim's mother also contacted them to send them her best wishes.
Pauline said she only got the first names of two passers-by – Rachel and Sean – who stopped to comfort her and Mike.
"There was also a really kind man living on Cambridge Road who took me in for a very welcome cup of tea," she said.
"I could have done with something stronger and I got that when I got home.
"The police response on this occasion was much better than the last time."
Pauline told that she hadn't drunk at the barbecue, and gave a negative breath test.
A police spokeswoman said the victim was recovering in hospital following the collision.
Pauline added: "The car has been a bogey ever since we got it. It is now all smashed in with shattered headlamps, windscreen and damage to the roof."
The trauma with the new car began two weeks ago, as reported, when the couple were watching a repeat of Andy Murray's victory at Wimbledon.
They heard a fracas outside their home at about 11.20pm on Sunday, July 7. A gang of youths tipped over wheelie bins in the street and ripped out a For Sale sign from a neighbour's garden.
Their car, which had arrived just hours before, had its windscreen smashed in.
Mike, a former taxi driver, went to his front door to confront the group made up of three girls and two boys, as his wife called 999.
Police officers contacted the couple the following Wednesday, 60 hours after the initial call.
The force later apologised to the couple, who now have CCTV fitted outside their home.
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