Udgrade 7.6.6 to 7.8.22 gives php error on site load after 'successful' upgrade

After upgrading without any problems using the upgrade wizard I get white screen and php error log gives this:
PHP Parse error: syntax error, unexpected T_CLASS, expecting T_STRING or T_VARIABLE or ‘$’ in …/crm/modules/ACL/ACLController.php on line 60, referer: /crm/index.php?module=Home&action=index

Running php 5.3.29 (i know, this upgrade is part of process of moving to php7)
mysql 5.5.61
apache 2.2
apc disabled.
On amazon Linux ec2 instance.

Anyone able to offer advice as to what this is or how to go about fixing it, brand new to suitecrm so totally in the dark.

The PHP version is really the problem. You have to upgrade PHP to a supported version (> 5.5) before you upgrade SuiteCRM, otherwise some bits of the code will necessarily break…