Family’s agony as teenager Oliver Flint is blinded on night out

Published: 19 August, 2010
by CHARLOTTE CHAMBERS

A WOMAN has told of her fears for her son’s future after being told he has been blinded in one eye following an incident that led to the arrest of a TV actor.

Oliver Flint, 18, from Highgate Newtown, had been out celebrating a family birthday when he was hit by a car in Kentish Town Road in the early hours of Sunday.

After visiting a bowling alley in Finchley, Oliver and his brothers headed to Kentish Town to see a cousin, but became separated outside McDonald’s at around 2am, when he stopped to chat to a friend. 

His relatives said he had approached a man in a car outside the restaurant, asking to use his mobile telephone, when he was hit by a car. 

He fell from the bonnet to the pavement, severely damaging his face and fracturing his eye socket.

Actor Elliott Tittensor, 20, who stars in the Channel 4 show Shameless, walked into a police station hours ­later. He was arrested and questioned about the incident.

Speaking from their Balmore Street home, Oliver’s mother, Lulu Taddei, told the New Journal: “He’s lost the sight in his left eye, and in the other eye he can see but he has blurred vision. 

“He’s very swollen around the face and bruised. The way he is at the moment, he’s not his normal self, he’s not really talking.”

Oliver is a former Brookfield primary school and William Ellis pupil who was due to start a plumbing course next month. He remains under the care of doctors at the Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead and is groggy and struggling to talk.

Ms Taddei said he was finding it difficult to come to terms with what had happened.

She said he learned on Monday from eye specialists that he had been blinded, but that it did not appear to have sunk in yet. 

Oliver, the second youngest, is still asking her if he will be able to see again.

Ms Taddei said: “I just want to make sure Ollie’s all right. He asked if he lost his sight and they told him. He’s not saying much, he just said he wanted to go back to bed.”

His brother Luke, 24, said the family now fear the normally bubbly teenager, known for joking around and making people laugh, could be held back from many jobs because of his blindness. 

He added: “We don’t know what he can and can’t do yet. Because he’s lost the sight in one eye he won’t be able to use machinery.

“Ollie’s done nothing to deserve what he got.”

Ms Taddei said she has taught her children to be respectful to others and always offer to help when others are in need.

“I’ve always been involved in the community and I brought my children up that way too,” she said.

“Ollie’s a really nice boy. He doesn’t take drugs, he doesn’t smoke, he’s not out on the streets. He just hangs out with his friends at home, playing Xbox.”

Ms Taddei said she is now concentrating on seeing her son’s health improve before thinking about the police investigation.

“Loads of people have visited him at the hospital but at the moment he’s sleeping all the time. At the moment, it’s just trying to get him to recover.”

Mr Tittensor said on his Twitter account on Monday: “Please don’t believe the papers people, it’s an ongoing investigation for a reason. 

“But we all know how the papers love to put people down.”