THE family of a teenage cyclist left fighting for his life after a collision with a car last night spoke of their devastation at his injuries.

Jack Taylor, 14, was cycling to school when he was involved in a crash with a silver Mercedes in Ock Street, Abingdon.

He was last night in intensive care at Oxford’s John Radcliffe Hospital with a blood clot on his brain and a fractured skull after he was airlifted from the scene of the crash about 8.30am on Wednesday.

His family, who have maintained a vigil at his bedside, spoke out to appeal for help in trying to piece together details of the crash.

Jack’s mum Nicola Berry, 33, said her son was still in a serious condition after the collision. She said: “With the injuries he has, he is on the critical end of the scale, which doesn’t sound very promising.

“There is still a lot of blood coming from the clot on his brain and they need to keep him asleep for a few more days. On Monday they are going to try to wake him up gradually. We’ve been up there a lot, but his stepdad hasn’t left his side.”

She said Jack – who lives in John Morris Road with her, stepdad Martin Berry and half-siblings Erin, eight, Grace, six, and seven-month-old George – was an Eminem fan who cycled to school every day and enjoyed sports.

She added: “He’s a mummy’s boy, although he probably wouldn’t like me saying so, but he is.

“He’s great with his little brother and he’s always offering to help. I know this is the sort of thing all parents say, but he really is my rock.”

Mr Berry, 40, said the family wanted to know as much as possible about the incident.

He said: “He’s a perfect boy, he’s never done anything wrong. We want to find out exactly what happened, not just hear about things second- and third-hand.

“He was cycling to Larkmead School and he had got to Ock Street, where there’s an island and you have to cross.

“We heard the helicopter and the sirens, but we never thought for one moment it would be for our son.”

He said he hadn’t realised the extent of Jack’s injuries until he arrived at the hospital, where he had to undergo a four-hour operation.

Mr Berry said: “He hit his head and he has a blood clot on one side of his brain, and it’s still bleeding now.”

He renewed an appeal for witnesses to the crash, saying Jack’s family wanted people who saw it to help the police as much as possible. He said: “I want to appeal for witnesses to come forward and help the police. We need to know what happened.”

Jack has lived in Abingdon all his life and attended Carswell Primary School and Caldecott Primary School before going to Larkmead when he was 11.

Larkmead headteacher Chris Harris said: “There is a lot of concern for him in school. We had an assembly for his year group on Thursday where we talked about the situation, explained what we knew about the incident and how Jack was.

“We have sent our own wishes to his family and we are willing him to get better.”

Police said the driver of the silver Mercedes involved in the collision had stopped at the scene and was co-operating fully with their investigation. He has not been arrested.

Police are appealing for witnesses who saw the collision to call Sgt Steve Blackburn on 101.