A boy who was accidentally run over by his father on a family day out was awarded a compensation package worth £8.1 million today, a record for a court-approved award for a spinal injury.

Callum Cross, 9, will need lifelong care after suffering spinal and brain injuries when he was two-and-a-half years old in March 2002.

Callum was injured when his father, Patrick, failed to see him while reversing in the car park at Mead Open Farm, near Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire, and drove over him.

The boy now lives in Milton Keynes with his mother, Julie Eriksson, who has remarried, his twin brother Ben, and younger twins, Jack and Kieron, 7.

His counsel, Frank Burton QC, told Mrs Justice Swift at the High Court in London that Mr Cross’s insurers, who admitted liability at an early stage, had made an interim payment of £1.7 million to enable the family to buy a suitable home.

Once the evidence of Callum’s needs was clear, a settlement was reached of a £2.5 million lump sum plus annual payments of £220,000.

Approving the payout as in Callum’s best interests, the judge paid tribute to his family.

“I am amazed and admiring of the care – not only the physical care but the thought and consideration of the family – which has gone into Callum’s upbringing,” she said.

“It is quite clear that, although he is in many ways a delightful boy, he can be difficult on occasions, and I have no doubt that considerable patience, forbearance and hard work is required to deal with that.

“I wish him, and the family as a whole, well for the future and, while this order cannot possibly put him back to the circumstances in which he otherwise would have been, I hope it will play its part in enabling him to live to his full potential and assist the family in the difficult task of providing for his future.”

Callum’s solicitor, Paul Paxton, of Stewarts Law, said later that the total award of £8.1 million, which would have been substantially more if Callum had a normal life expectation, was thought to be the highest approved award for a spinal cord injury.

He said that Callum’s mother was delighted that the case was over and that he would be cared for for the rest of his life.

“Money can never replace what he has lost but he is part of a loving family,” he added.

Warren Collins, solicitor and national co-ordinator of the spinal chord injuries group for the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers, said: “This is a substantial award, but it is not a lottery win.”

The element of the award for pain and suffering – as opposed to money that would have to be paid out for care and equipment – was likely to be no more than £275,000.

“If this boy lives to be 50, then that equates to £18 a day – for being brain and spinal chord injured, being doubly incontinent, having no sexual function, being unable to earn a living and requiring care for the rest of his life. That’s what people have to remember.”

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