A TEN-YEAR-OLD girl left fighting for life when she was hit by a double-decker bus is awake but now faces a critical period in her recovery.

Hereward School pupil Ronni Norman was woken by doctors after ten days in a critical condition at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London.

Her father John Norman, 45, said: "She can't talk. She can wake and look round the room but doesn't see anything. The next few days will be critical. She's not out of the woods yet.

"The doctors say they don't know what will happen. I'm hopeful. I'd love to say she'll be fine but it's too early to tell yet."

Mr Norman told the Guardian the many comforting letters and notes he has received have kept him going as his daughter recovers following the accident which happened in Chester Road, Loughton, on Thursday, March 6.

He said: "We've been inundated with cards at the hospital, and the school has set aside a room full of cards and teddies. It's a great help to us. It's good to know that everyone is praying for her.

"I'd like to thank all the people who helped at the scene of the accident, and all the wellwishers."

Mr Norman has joined in the calls for greater road safety measures on Chester Road, where he lives, and where his daughter was struck just yeards from their home.

He said: "She was coming back from school. That's the heartbreaking bit - it was just yards from her home.

"She will be 11 next month and she had just started coming home on her own. She had to cross that road somewhere.

"Even if the worst comes to the worst I hope something can come out of it. We need traffic islands or even lower speed limits. I think the buses should come down at a slower speed.

"I drive for a living all around London and there's safety measures everywhere. Living round here we've got nothing. For the length of Chester Road to Debden Lane it's about three quarters of a mile and there's one traffic island."