SCHOOLBOYS rushed to help an elderly woman after she fell in the road and was clipped by a van.

Passers-by said the woman, in her eighties, tripped and fell into the road, while crossing Benfleet High Road, near Appleton School, at about 3pm, yesterday.

Benfleet woman Suzie Walker, 39, was one of those who came to the woman’s aid.

She said: “She walked past my car and didn’t use the zebra crossing.

“She was walking with a friend and they crossed the road. Where there was a groove, she just tripped and I think she was clipped by the van as she ended up lying in the road.

“She fell on her eye, elbow and hip. She had a cut on her head near her eye, so I put my scarf on it. There was a paramedic response car just three cars away and these boys from Appleton came over to help.”

The group helped the elderly woman on to a seat and waited with her and her friend until an ambulance arrived.

She was taken to Southend Hospital. An ambulance service spokesman said her injuries were not thought to be life-threatening.

Police were also called to the scene.