Police hunt driver who deliberately splashed family – but what does the law say?

One of the children soaked in Swadlincote, Derbyshire was in a pushchair

Hearthcote Road in Swadlincote, Derbyshire (Google Maps)

Police are hunting a driver who sped through a large puddle drenching a family with disabled children from “top to toe”.

The family of five, including children, eight and 10 and a baby in a pushchair, were completely soaked by the “unbelievably callous” driver as they walked along Hearthcote Road in Swadlincote, Derbyshire, on Tuesday.

The irate mother said the family with children, some of whom have physical disabilities, were walking along the pavement when a white car came towards them at around 2pm.

Realising what was about to happen, she gestured at the driver to stop with her hand but claimed the car “sped up” soaking them all in the murky street water.

She told The Telegraph: “My son is 6ft tall and he was drenched. The water went right over his head.

“My two-year-old granddaughter was screaming ‘I don’t like it’. The pushchair was wet through.”

Derbyshire Police have appealed to the public for any information to help trace the driver.

According to the Road Traffic Act 1988, a person may be charged with the offence of “careless and inconsiderate driving” if they drive “a mechanically propelled vehicle on a road or other public place without due care and attention, or without reasonable consideration for other persons using the road or place”.

Drivers can be landed with fines up to £5,000 and nine penalty points on the licence.

In 2018 a woman in her 90s died after falling over when she was splashed by cars driving through a puddle.

Hilda Moore, 95, was taken to hospital with a head wound after she collapsed on the pavement in the Lincolnshire town of Sleaford.