A WOMAN and toddler injured when a car mounted a pavement are said to be improving in hospital.

The two-year-old boy and woman in her 40s were hurt when they collided with a car as they walked along the pavement in Charminster Avenue, Bournemouth at 9am on Thursday morning.

The little boy, who suffered life-threatening head injuries, remains in a critical, but stable, condition in Poole Hospital but police said his condition is improving.

The woman, being treated for "life-changing" leg injuries in Southampton Hospital, is described as stable and improving.

Following the collision, at the junction of Gresham Avenue, a 27-year-old Bournemouth man was arrested on suspicion of committing a driving offence. He has since been released on police bail, pending further inquiries, until the middle of January 2016.