AN EMOTIONAL father made a heartfelt plea for the driver of the car his son fell from to come forward as his boy continues to fight for his life.

Alex Chant, from Newport, should be looking forward to his 21st birthday, a trip to Spain and becoming an uncle.

Instead, he remains on a life support machine in a critical condition after falling from a moving people carrier on the Southern Distributor Road following a night out in Maindee.

His father, Stephen, pleaded for the driver to come forward as Alex remains at the University of Wales Hospital, Cardiff, so the family can piece together what happened.

Mr Chant described Alex as “a really gentle person who doesn’t deserve to be in this position” and “extremely popular.”

His mother, Lynda, has not left his hospital bedside.

Police believe the postman was alone in the back of the dark people carrier with a sliding door when he fell out on March 27, as it travelled from the direction of Coleg Gwent’s Nash campus towards Corporation Road at around 11.30pm.

The driver didn’t stop, but other motorists helped Alex near Carcraft.

Mr Chant said: “Alex is 21 on the 24th of this month and the family were looking forward to spending it with him. His sister is also due to give birth and he won’t be there to see it. His head injuries are very serious. We live in hope he can pull through.”

The former Lliswerry Primary and High School pupil has older siblings Clare and Matthew and plays football for Lliswerry.

He also loves art and has designed images of hearts, tribal patterns, a skull, Japanese flowers and koi carp, which are tattooed on his arms.

On Saturdays, he usually goes into Newport city centre with friends but his dad said he was trying to save money car tax, upcoming 21st birthday parties, a football trip to Spain and a stag weekend so decided to go home at 11.15pm.

After drinking in The Bank, Alex bought a kebab from Sens kebab house and walked across the road to a bus stop where taxis usually pick up on Maindee Square.

He is 6’1, medium to stocky build, with short dark brown hair. He was wearing a blue and white striped T-shirt and blue jeans.

Anyone who saw Alex in Maindee Square or can help identify the vehicle or driver, call Gwent Police on 0163383811

EDITORIAL COMMENT: Help solve a baffling case

THE case of Alex Chant who is on a life support machine after somehow ending up exiting a moving vehicle is completely baffling.

Yesterday his father made an emotional appeal for the driver to come forward two weeks after this awful and tragic incident occurred.

Mr Chant should be celebrating his 21st birthday in a fortnight.

But quite how he came to end up with serious injuries on Newport’s Southern Distributor Road is still baffling police.

What they can tell us is that Mr Chant was in a vehicle travelling from the direction of Coleg Gwent’s Nash campus towards Corporation Road at around 11.30pm on March 27 and it not thought anyone else was in the vehicle other than the driver.

If it was a taxi then surely there would be a record of the vehicle’s movements and it would be easy enough to track down.

But if it was just a private vehicle then we can understand the difficulties in tracking down the driver especially as there seems to be no CCTV that would give any clues.

Whatever the circumstances, the driver would certainly know what happened and we urge him or her to examine their conscience and speak to police.

Or if the driver has told someone about the incident then they also owe it to Mr Chant’s distraught family to go to police.

A young man is seriously ill and his family, quite rightly, want to find out how he ended up so seriously hurt.