An inquest heard how a family holiday turned to horror when a toddler ran under a car.

Four-year-old Rio Singh Potiwal had been playing with his sisters near the family's holiday cottage in County Kerry, Eire, when he ran across the road into the path of a car driven by student Niall Keane Stack.

Mum, Gurmeet Kaur of Clarence Road, Middlesbrough, heard the noise of the collision and ran outside to see the toddler lying in bushes at the side of the road.

Cradling the youngster in her arms, she ran back into the cottage and an ambulance was called.

"I could see he had a serious injury to the back of his head,'' she said, in written evidence to the inquest, held in Middlesbrough.

Garda Police Officer John McEnery arrived at the cottage door but as there was no sign of the ambulance, Gurmeet Kaur and husband, salesman Bharat Hardip Singh Potiwal asked him to drive them to the nearest hospital at Tralee.

The patrol car had travelled some distance when, following a radio call, Officer McEnery turned the car back to meet the ambulance which had arrived at the accident scene at Listowel.

The inquest heard that Rio died of a broken neck.

Mr Stack, a provisional licence holder, told the inquest that Rio ran straight out into the road and he saw the child for the first time, just eight yards in front of him.

"He was running, running across the road. I did not see the boy before he came out on to the road. When I first saw the boy he was actually on the road.''

He said Rio did not appear to see or hear him.

"I could do nothing expect to immediately brake and swerve to the right,'' Mr Stack said.

Teesside Coroner Michael Sheffield recorded a verdict of accident death at the conclusion of the second of two inquests, the first having been held in Northern Ireland in March this year. The accident happened in August 2003.