A Portland mum has slammed hospital staff for allowing her two-year-old son to return home just two hours after he was hurt in an accident with a car.

Stacie Lowry said she was surprised to be told she could return home with her son Tyler so soon after he was injured in East Weare Road, Portland.

She has also recalled the terrifying moment she saw her youngest son knocked down and has called for a speed limit reduction in the road.

Full-time mum Mrs Lowry, 28, said: “I’ve got three children and I was getting them out of the car one by one when Tyler ran straight over the road. He was excited to go in and watch a Fireman Sam DVD I had just bought.

“I remember thinking: ‘Oh my God, his back is going to be broken.’ “I screamed really loudly and my friend Frankiee in the flat upstairs heard this going on and called an ambulance.

“I didn’t know what to do – Tyler was screaming.”

Mrs Lowry said she went with her son to Dorset County Hospital in Dorchester but was told by staff after only a few hours they could return home.

Tyler had suffered injuries to the front and back of his head and cuts and grazes to his body.

Mrs Lowry said: “I had a phone call later that night asking if he could come back and saying that they shouldn’t have released him.

“They apologised and said there was a misunderstanding with an A and E doctor and they shouldn’t have dismissed him.

“I had to take him back at 11.30pm to see a paediatric doctor and Tyler ended up spending the night in the Kingfisher ward for observation.

“I was told it was automatic in these kinds of cases for the child to stay in.

“I got lots of apologies from staff and I must say I was surprised when they first said he could be discharged.

“I thought a young boy with head injuries would have stayed in longer but then I thought ‘they’re the professionals’.

“I wasn’t too impressed about the situation, especially being called at 11.30pm.”

A spokesman for Dorset County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust said: “The trust cannot comment on individual cases but our priority is that the patient received the appropriate level of care and that is what happened on this occasion.”

Mrs Lowry’s other children are four-year-old Conor and Kacie-Leigh, aged six months.