A grandmother died and her grandson was severely injured after a tragic cliff fall in Benidorm. Janet Hobbs was killed when she lost control of her mobility scooter while riding it with her 11-year-old grandson Alfie.
It sped across the road and struck a barrier, knocking Janet off balance. Alfie was taken to the hospital with multiple injuries, while his parents, Jordan Hedley and Tom Nicholas back in Cambridge, were unaware of what had occurred.
Alfie was on vacation with his grandparents, Janet and John Nicholas, when the tragedy occurred. On August 24, they were returning from a visit to the Cross of Benidorm.
According to Mirror reports, the grandmother and grandson were riding on a two-seated mobility scooter, with Janet in front and Alfie behind.
Mum Jordan said: “Alfie was on holiday with his grandparents, I and Tom were back home. They were on a two-seater mobility scooter, his nana was sitting in the front and Alfie was sitting in the back. They were coming downhill going back to their hotel, they’d been to see the Benidorm Cross.
“It lost control going round a bend and went straight across a road into some barriers. She got flung from it and went straight over, there was a cliff edge, and she went straight off a cliff edge. My son, thank god, hit the barrier at some speed… leading to his injuries.”
Alfie was left with a broken jaw, a broken arm, a cracked skull, a blood clot, and cuts and bruises. Local police are now looking into whether there was a mechanical problem that caused the scooter to spin out of control. Jordan, 30, and his partner Tom, 34, thought they were the victims of a sick joke when Janet’s phone rang and said she had died.
Jordan said: “We got a phone call on a Wednesday afternoon. We thought it was a bit of a joke because someone phoned off my mother-in-law’s phone saying she was dead. We didn’t really quite understand it.
“Then we tried calling Alfie and grandad and couldn’t get any answer, so we were panicking. Then we had a call explaining what had happened and at first, they said Alfie was absolutely fine and it was just her in the accident, then a little while later we heard Alfie was in intensive care and we got the first flight out.”
When the terrified parents arrived in Benidorm, things did not improve. They were unaware of the full extent of Alfie’s injuries and were shocked and distraught to see their beloved son in such a state. They were rushed to Alicante General Hospital, where Alife was being treated, after meeting someone from the British consulate.
Jordan said: “We were walking in there not expecting anything because we had just been told there was a break to his jaw. We were really not expecting to see our son like that. It was really difficult. It was very upsetting.”
The mum added: “We’re slowly getting lower and lower on the money, but the money doesn’t concern us.”