Heartbroken Leeds mum calls for law change after losing son in tragic bike crash
14 year old Charlie Fox was knocked off his bike last October
Last updated 22nd Jul 2019
We're hearing lives could be saved on Leeds roads if every new bike sold here came fitted with working lights.
A heartbroken mum from our city's got thousands of signatures on a petition calling for the change after her son was knocked off his bike and killed in the dark last year.
14 year old Charlie Fox was hit by a van on a blind bend when he was out cycling with a group of friends - his mum now wants change so it doesn't happen to anyone else.
She's been speaking exclusively to us:
"I just want nobody else to ever go through what me and my family are going through and Charlie was just a lovely character and he didnt deserve this and I don't want anyone else to have to go through this."
"Charlie was the second boy to actually have been hit and the first boy was dressed all in black on a black bike.
"If the law would have been in place all three of those boys would have had bike lights on so they may, I can't say for a fact, but there is that massive chance that they could have been ok because all three boys would have had lights on."
Rebecca's calling for a new 'Charlie's Law' in his memory which would require all bikes to be sold with lights.
Her petition's already got almost 4,000 signatures and needs 10,000 to get a response from the government.
Rebecca says it's a really important change:
"The government now encourages more and more children to use bikes - they go on their way to school with no bicycle lights just the standard reflectors but I think people are unaware of the actual law that is required to have bicycle lights on.
"Obviously it's the forefront of our minds because of what sadly happened but I think parents naively as well probably to some extent think it won't happen to them but sadly it does happen and there needs to be an update with the law that's all we want."
Rebecca's MP Richard Burgon's backing her calls:
"I think it's right that the campaign's focusing on making it a law that all bikes have to be sold with working lights - then it's not left to individual children, or anyone, to work out they should have a light and get a light. Charlie's Law would make a real difference and save lives.
"I think it's really inspiring that, despite the unimaginable tragedy that her family has suffered, Rebecca's leading on this campaign."
You can sign the petition here.