A west Norfolk woman has told how her granddaughter will never be able to leave hospital because she was not wearing a seatbelt in a road crash.

Sue Threlfall is backing Norfolk police's ongoing seatbelt campaign, aimed at getting people to belt-up, after revealing how her 21-year-old granddaughter Helen Welch is now in a vegetative state in hospital.

Neither Miss Welch, who was 18 at the time, nor her female passenger were wearing seatbelts when the car they were travelling in left the A4 in Berkshire, at about 2.30am on September 27, 2012.

Mrs Threlfall, from Low Road, Grimston, near King's Lynn, said: 'It has had a huge effect on the family and her friends. It's never away from your mind, 24/7.

'We don't know why neither of them was wearing a seatbelt. They and we have all paid a huge price for it.

'If she had been wearing a seatbelt Helen's injuries should have been much less.'

Miss Welch was planning to become a physical trainer, and Mrs Threlfall said she was a 'social butterfly' before the crash and had a wide circle of friends.

Miss Welch had type 1 diabetes and her grandmother said she had been out on the night of the crash with friends, and had also been drinking.

She added: 'There was nothing else on the road, and the car somehow went into a spin and hit a tree.

'She was catapulted through the back window, because she was not wearing a seatbelt. She suffered a fractured skull below the ear. The other girl in the car did not hit her head but suffered a broken wrist and fractures to her spine.'

Miss Welch was taken to the John Radcliffe hospital in Oxford for intensive care, and then on to Basingstoke hospital.

In January 2013 she was transferred to the Holy Cross neurological hospital in Haslemere, Surrey where she remains.

Mrs Threlfall, 66, who is a grandmother of five and a singer with the King's Lynn Festival chorus, added: 'She has her own room at the hospital. It's a lovely, happy place. She's well cared for and looked after, but she cannot do anything for herself. She has to be fed by a 'Peg' tube, because she's a type 1 diabetic.

'She stays in bed most of the time but has a specialised wheelchair she is hoisted into. She cannot talk and will be in hospital for the rest of her life.'

Mrs Threlfall said she was backing Norfolk police's week-long campaign aimed at getting people to wear seatbelts in cars.

Police in Norfolk and Suffolk are targeting drivers and passengers who don't belt-up, until Sunday, March 15, as part of the Europe-wide TISPOL seat belt enforcement initiative.

The aim is to raise awareness of how many collision-related injuries and fatalities can be prevented by the wearing of seatbelts, which is now compulsory in most European countries.

Mrs Threlfall has been fundraising for the 'Brain Injury is Big' charity, which is a support network for people who have loved ones with severe brain injuries.

Miss Welch's mother Annette has set up a blog detailing her daughter's life, called helens-hope.uk.

Visit www.braininjuryisbig.org.uk or call the support phone line on 01483 770999.

Have you been involved in a car crash in west Norfolk recently? Email david.bale2@archant.co.uk