Minister gets 'Cassie's Law' petition over unfit drivers
A woman whose daughter was killed by an elderly motorist in a crash in Essex has given a 45,000-signature petition to the road safety minister.
Cassie McCord, 16, died after being hit by a car driven by Colin Horsfall, 87, when it mounted a Colchester pavement.
Mr Horsfall had been warned three days earlier by police not to drive.
Her mother Jackie McCord wants a "Cassie's Law" to give police immediate powers to suspend licences and minister Stephen Hammond praised her campaign.
In a statement after the petition was presented to him, Conservative Mr Hammond described the campaign as "wonderful" and said he would examine carefully the issues she had raised.
Cassie, who had been walking to sixth form college with a friend, died in hospital the day after being hit by Mr Horsfall's car.
Parliamentary debate hopes
Mr Horsfall died of his injuries in May last year.
Officers had spent two hours trying to persuade Mr Horsfall not to drive his automatic Vauxhall Astra again after he was involved in a minor incident, failed an eye test and had to be driven home.
Police said they were powerless to do anything else and three days later on 7 February he drove erratically and at speed along Head Street in Colchester.
He mounted the pavement and trapped Cassie between his car and a wall.
More than 45,000 people signed the online petition that Mrs McCord presented at the Department for Transport but 100,000 signatures are needed before a debate can be held at the House of Commons.