SEVEN-week old Joveldine Tasker is sleeping safely at home today after escaping serious injury when a car mounted the pavement and hit her pushchair.Joveldine and her mother, Michelle Tasker suffered minor injuries in the accident in Hatfield Road, Ipswich, on Saturday afternoon.

By Matt Eley

SEVEN-week-old Joveldene Tasker is sleeping safely at home today after escaping serious injury when a car mounted the pavement and hit her pushchair.

Joveldene and her mother, Michelle Tasker, suffered minor injuries in the accident in Hatfield Road, Ipswich, on Saturday

afternoon.

Today Mrs Tasker, 36, of Hatfield Road, Ipswich, said doctors told her if it had not been for the type of pushchair her daughter had been in at the time the baby would not have survived.

"It doesn't bear thinking about what could have happened. I just thank God she is still here and also that she still has a mother," she said.

"Either one of us could have been easily killed and I'm still in shock about it all. I can't believe how lucky we were and everything else seems to pale into insignificance. If she had been in a pram and not strapped in, then she would have been certainly thrown out."

Mrs Tasker recalled: "It happened so quickly and I didn't have any time to push her out of the way before we were hit.

"The pushchair was snatched violently out of my hands. I don't recall the moment I was hit, but neighbours said we both went flying up into the air. All I remember is lying on the pavement with my head in agony and saying 'Where's my baby?' and 'Is my baby all right?'

"I just wanted to get up and go to her, but the paramedics and people standing around me wouldn't let me move."

Mrs Tasker and her husband, Jim, 41, live a few doors away from where the accident happened and he was immediately told. Mr Tasker then accompanied his wife and baby to hospital.

Despite receiving the full impact of the car, Mrs Tasker has been left with just bruising to her arms, legs, head and spine. Joveldene, who is Mrs Tasker's first child, miraculously escaped any injury.

Mr Tasker, who works for BT in Martlesham, said Joveldene had been in a Mothercare Colorado multi-purpose pushchair. It doubles up as a car seat, which means the baby was strapped in by a number of safety belts.

He added if it had not been for the plastic handle of the car seat, which took the brunt of the impact, Joveldene's face would have hit the pavement.

"Words cannot describe the relief you feel that everything is OK. When someone tells you your wife and new-born child have been involved in an accident, you immediately think the worst," said Mr Tasker.

"No doubt Michelle is going to feel nervous now walking by traffic, but at the moment we are just too relieved to worry about that."

Mrs Tasker said Saturday had been the first time she had dressed her daughter in an Ipswich Town romper suit because she wanted it to bring the club luck against Aston Villa at the weekend.

"They might have only got a draw, but it was certainly lucky for Joveldene," she said.

The family would like to thank staff at Ipswich Hospital's Bergholt ward for their kindness and support after they were

admitted to hospital.

Two Ford cars had collided at about 4.20pm and one of them mounted the pavement. One driver, a 24-year-old man from Ipswich, was taken to Ipswich Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

A police spokesman said one driver failed a roadside breath test and a doctor took a sample of his blood for analysis.

Investigations were under way to establish the cause of the accident, he added, but no-one had been charged with any offence.

Several Hatfield Road residents reported hearing a loud bang and seeing the aftermath of the crash.