Christian Chandler: 200 join car cruise as £11,000 raised towards funeral of Telford teenager killed in bus crash
More than £11,000 has now been raised in memory of teenager Christian Chandler who died after being struck by a bus.
The 13-year-old was cycling to school along Haybridge Road, Hadley, when he was hit by the bus and suffered fatal injuries.
Following his death, a crowdfunding page was lunch which has now hit the £11,000 mark.
The money will go towards paying for his funeral.
It comes after a Cruise for Christian event saw nearly 200 cars drive through the streets of Telford in his memory.
The cruise was organised by car club Defined Ridez.
Cars, bikes and even lorries came out for the event, which organisers said attracted 196 vehicles and raised more than £900 towards the fundraising total.
Emma Fenton, speaking on behalf of Defined Ridez, said they were "truly honoured" that Christian's family had joined the procession.
"Sunday night was a huge success – better than we could of ever asked for," Emma said.
"We were joined by Christian's family and were truly honoured that they wanted to join us at such a heartbreaking time for them.
"The only way to get a true figure for the number of vehicles was to count them on the video and we counted 196. We had lorries, cars and bikes that joined in.
"Even though it got very crowded very quickly at the start point, the Defined Ridez Staff and other close friends did an amazing job and the convoy left without a hitch.
"It was amazing to see people out on the roads taking videos and waving at us."
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Emma said that that car scene in Telford had really pulled together for Christian and his family.
"The atmosphere was great and the love shown by each and every person that attended was fantastic," she said.
"The Car Scene really pulled together as approximately five car clubs from out of town joined us as well."
Another staff member, Gary Bassett, said: "No words can describe how we all feel at Defined Ridez.
"The turn out was amazing and we did Christian proud.
"So happy to see the support. I'm lost for words."
The convoy started behind the Greggs in Stafford Park, travelled towards Trench Lock, along Haybridge Road and back to the starting point along the M54.
The money raised from the event will be added to the £11,000 already collected through the family's JustGiving page.
Collected funds will be used to pay for Christian's funeral. Anything left over will be given to charity, including the Midlands Air Ambulance.
Samuel Brooks, Christian's uncle, thanked everybody for their help raising the money.
"Thank you so much for your continued support," he said.
"The more we raise the more we can spend giving Christian an amazing funeral and also the more we can donate to charity.
"As a family we just want to say a huge thank you to everyone for the continued support and messages you've sent us. We have been blown away."
The car cruise is just the latest public event in support of Christian's family after his death.
They held a fireworks display for the community in Chockleys Meadow, Leegomery as an informal send-off.
After starting the JustGiving Page, the family raised more than £7,000 in just 24 hours.
The accident happened on Monday morning last week.
The bus was travelling from Wellington towards the direction of Trench Lock when the collision happened. The Midland Air Ambulance that attended the incident landed on the playing field at Hadley Learning Community in nearby Waterloo Road
Witnesses to the collision should call West Mercia Police on 101, quoting incident 99s of October 16.
