Teenage boy suffers serious eye injury in Christmas Day hit-and-run in Hove

A 16-year-old boy suffered a serious eye injury after a hit-and-run in Hove on Christmas Day.

The boy was the front-seat passenger in a taxi which crashed with another car which sped off from the scene.

Sussex Police urged any witnesses to the crash to come forward.

The crash happened shortly after 11pm on Christmas Day at the traffic lights at the junction of Church Road, Sackville Road and Hove Street in Hove.

The blue Skoda Octavia taxi was travelling east to west along Church Road when a silver Vauxhall Insignia saloon travelling south to north along Sackville Road collided with its nearside.

The taxi lost control and mounted the pavement.

The teenager, from Southwick, suffered head injuries which included fragments of glass entering his right eye. The taxi driver, also from Southwick, suffered whiplash injuries.

Both casualties were taken to the Royal Sussex County Hospital, Brighton, by ambulance.

A passenger briefly stepped out of the Vauxhall and looked into the taxi, but then got back into the car which left the scene.

It is likely to have sustained significant frontal damage in the collision.

Officers investigating the incident are keen to speak to anyone who saw what happened or who has any other information, particularly sightings of a badly damaged silver Vauxhall Insignia in the Hove area.

Anyone with information is asked to phone Sussex Police on 101 or email collision.appeal@sussex.pnn.police.uk.