Sunderland fan, 12, 'left scared' after wheelchair hit by flare

Sunderland fan Charlie with mam Helen at the Stadium of Light before the flare was thrown

A 12-year-old boy whose wheelchair was hit by a flare at a Sunderland match said he does not "feel safe" going back to the same stand.

Charlie was at the Stadium of Light when the missile was thrown into the disabled fans' section by Birmingham City supporters in the seats above.

"I was stuck in a big ball of blue smoke - I could have been in hospital," he told BBC Radio Newcastle.

Police are continuing to investigate what happened on Saturday.

Footage recorded by one fan shows what appears to be a flare land with a plume of blue smoke rising into the air.

Sunderland fan Charlie was at the ground with his mother Helen for the first time in months after undergoing an operation to have his spine fused.

"Birmingham City had just scored and all of a sudden I saw a big ball of blue smoke coming around me," the season ticket holder said.

"The next thing I know my mam is pulling me out of the smoke.

"I knew that something had been thrown down but what panicked me was I am prone to respiratory issues and I was stuck in a big ball of blue smoke.

"It could have caused loads of problems, I could have been in hospital."

Helen, from County Durham, said she began to "panic" and praised a steward who came to help remove the flare which had become trapped under her son's wheelchair.

"We were just trying to [move] Charlie's chair away from it and it was getting more and more stuck," she said.

"One of the stewards came over and put his hand in there and pulled it out and was watching Charlie just to check he was not in any respiratory distress because there was so much smoke.

"It's absolutely gutting that the day turned out the way it did for him, that somebody made that choice in that moment to throw something at other people that could potentially hurt them."

Although uninjured, Charlie was left shaken and said the seriousness of what happened only began to sink in when he got home.

'Never feel safe'

Despite his scare, he is determined not to be denied watching his beloved Black Cats.

Helen said the club had reassured Charlie he will have his season ticket moved elsewhere

"I will always go to the Sunderland games, nothing will stop me," he said.

"But I will never go anywhere near the stand I was in again, I will never be able to feel safe like I did before."

Helen said the club had reassured Charlie he will have his season ticket moved to another part of the ground.

"If we knew we were going back to the away end we absolutely wouldn't be going to the match," she said.

"We were reassured that Charlie would have his season ticket moved and he wouldn't have to go back there"

Sunderland AFC condemned the hurling of the flare as an "abhorrent act" of "unacceptable conduct".

It said that the person responsible had been identified by CCTV and all relevant information had been handed over to West Midlands Police.

An online petition by Sunderland fans urging the club to move the away fans section has garnered more than 1,600 supporters.