Chris,15, victim of ‘death-mile’

TRIBUTE . . . Chris Dale’s school friends lay flowers

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A 15-YEAR-OLD boy has died after being struck by a car — the eighth victim on “death-mile”, a notorious stretch of Lees Road, Salem.

Chris Dale was crossing near the junction with Wellyhole Street when he was in collision with Mini Cooper at around 10.15pm on Saturday.

The Blue Coat School pupil, who said he one day wanted to be Prime Minister, suffered serious head injuries and was taken to the Royal Oldham Hospital, where he died.

Yesterday, his friends gathered at the scene to lay floral tributes.

Friends have also set up a group on the social networking site Facebook in Chris’s memory.

The teenager’s distraught uncle, Graham Hirst, described Chris as a bubbly boy.

He added: “I can’t believe what’s happened. Everybody loved him. He had a wicked sense of humour and said he wanted to be Prime Minister.”

Kieren Hollinworth, who had been to the Lighthouse Inn near to the scene of the crash, said: “I walked out of the pub and saw police cars and an ambulance.

“The windscreen of the Mini Cooper was smashed like it had hit someone.”

Ian Brimlow, landlord of the Lighthouse Inn, added: “A cordon was put in place for five hours while officers dealt with the incident.”

“I’d gone out for a cigarette when the accident had just happened. I closed the pub to stop people going out to have a nosey.”

The stretch of road now has a shocking death toll of eight lives in 15 years — and numerous less serious accidents.

Lees Road, the main route to Uppermill and Greenfield from Oldham, goes down a long straight hill at Leesbrook and then into a left-hand bend.

In 1994, 15-year-old Michelle Larkin, of Lowside Drive, Glodwick, and 23-year-old Arif Hussain (22), of Clinton Walk, Glodwick, were killed when the Toyota Tercel they were in ploughed into the Lighthouse Inn.

Yards from that spot in January, 2001, 81-year-old Doris Harvey was killed when she was hit by a car.

Later that year, 19-year-old Billy Bevan, of Hollin Hall Street, Clarksfield, died when his car hit the wall at Lees Brook Mill.

In 2002, Mark Andrew Harrison (20), of Carnation Road, Holts, was killed when his Vauxhall Nova GTE hit a pelican crossing pole.

Then, just before Christmas, 2003, the road claimed the lives of 16-year-old friends Christian Leyden, of Springhead, and Anthony Hughes, of Greenfield, passenger’s in Anthony’s mother’s car which crashed.

Traffic police are appealing for any witnesses to the latest crash to contact the Road Policing Unit on 0161-856 8473.