A young child on his scooter escaped death “by inches” after scaffold workers in the West End dropped a 2kg clip onto the pavement below.
The terrified child froze in horror and then vomited in front of his shocked father after a metal clip used to secure the rigging fell and clipped the rear wheel of his micro-scooter.
The near miss happened just off Oxford Street yesterday afternoon in front of dozens of shoppers.
Contractors working for commercial developer Cushman and Wakefield were dismantling the scaffolding when the clip broke free.
One witness, who was two steps behind the child, today said he was still shaken by the incident.
The man, a building surveyor, said: “It missed me by less than half a metre. There was a little boy in front of me on a child’s scooter, and it hit the back wheel.
“The child just stood there in a trance, he froze. Then he began being sick. He was only about four, and his father was understandably very angry. It’s little short of a miracle that he wasn’t killed.
“This sort of thing is going on all over London. Construction is not being looked after properly.
He added: “The blokes didn’t have a proper platform and were just chucking the pieces down as fast as they could.”
Cushman and Wakefield are one of the world’s largest commercial property firms, with offices in 60 countries globally.
A spokesman for Cushman and Wakefield said an “urgent investigation” had been launched to find out what happened.
He said: “We were made aware of the incident on Wednesday afternoon but I am not aware of the circumstances.
“It has now been passed onto the relevant department and they have already instigated a full investigation but we will not know the outcome for another 48 hours.
“It is being treated as a matter of urgency.”
