Young boy injured after jumping from window

8:40am Sunday 11th May 2008

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A boy was airlifted to hospital this week after jumping from the window of his Tottenham flat, in an apparent bid to fly like a superhero.

The five-year-old fractured his arm and collar bone after falling on the wheeled bins below the second floor window and landing on the concrete pavement.

Police and ambulance crews were called to the flat in Trulock Court, off Trulock Road at 3.30pm on Monday.

An air ambulance was summoned and landed on wasteland near to Tottenham Hotspur's football ground before taking the child to the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel.

Robert Whitting, 39, who also lives on the second floor of the high rise council block, said: "I didn't see the actual accident but I heard the emergency services come and went downstairs. He hit the bins and then went onto the concrete. He thought he was Spiderman and could fly. He made a lucky escape."

Some residents have suggested that it was only a matter of time before an accident like this happened. They criticised the authorities for failing to replace the old-fashioned windows which have no safety locks.

One resident, who did not want to be named, said: "The window latches are not secure. Any child can fall out of it. Some of us have lived here for a long time and we've done everything we can to get it made secure but nothing has happened. It's a very old- fashioned lock system."

A spokeswoman for Homes for Haringey said the windows will be replaced with double-glazed ones with child-proof locks as part of the £198.5 million Decent Homes programme.

She said: "We were saddened to hear of this incident and wish the child a speedy recovery. Although this building has older style windows, they are fully compliant with existing building regulations.

"The programme has already started across the borough and the windows at Trulock Court will also be replaced as part of the programme."