Toddler killed by car moving at 2mph in car park

A 17-month-old boy was tragically killed by a car entering a hotel car park at 2mph.

Jackson Yates ‘toddled’ into the car’s path outside the Ibis Hotel, in Salford, Greater Manchester, an inquest heard.

Jackson’s mother Cheryl had stopped at the hotel to change his nappy, a day before the family from Yarm, North Yorkshire, were supposed to see a recording of CBeebies show In the Night Garden.

Deniss Tischenko was driving the Toyota Rav 4 that hit Jackson on August 10, but Bolton Coroner’s Court heard how the small boy was ‘masked’ from his view.

The driver said he felt like he had ‘driven over a speed bump’.

The Yates family were in Salford to see a live recording of his favourite TV show (Picture: Cavendish)

The driver said it felt like he went over a ‘speed bump’ (Picture: Cavendish)

Jackson, pictured with parents Carl and Cheryl Yates (Picture: Cavendish)

He said: ‘It was then that the faces of the three people next to my car changed.

‘I knew something was wrong. I thought what had happened at this point was that I must have gone over a dog or a cat or something like that and I did not see a child near my car before this point.

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‘One of the people started banging on my car window but I couldn’t hear what they were saying. I was in shock and assumed I was still on top of what I had hit.

‘I put the car in reverse and moved the car back about one metre. I saw a lady pull a child out from the front of my car.

‘I was in complete shock.’

Jackson’s mother said their ‘lives turned upside down and changed in an instant’ (Picture: Cavendish)

PC Neil Pennington from Greater Manchester Police collision investigation unit said the driver had not committed a criminal offence.

He said the CCTV showed Jackson following his family towards the hotel as his mum locks the car.

‘He then began to toddle, what you would expect from a child of that age, and goes past the group of three and seems to slow and it is at that point when the Toyota slowly turned right into the car park.

‘Unfortunately that is when the collision occurred.’

In an emotional tribute, Mrs Yates said: ‘Our lives turned upside down and changed in an instant. It has never been the same since.

‘We are doing our best to find positives. So far it has been hugely distressing for us and we are struggling to come to terms with the magnitude of what has happened to our perfect little boy.’