A Sandwell lady fell on a slab lifted by tree roots outise her house, only to be told that the slab was not lifted enough for the council to do anything about it. It left her hospitalised and with months of pain.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00So we're here in Yew Tree Estate and it comes under Sandwell doesn't it?
00:03It does, Sandwell Council.
00:05Cool and what's your name madam?
00:07Mrs Jean Murphy.
00:08And Jean, you've been going through the walls a bit haven't you?
00:11Just fill us in on the journey you've been through.
00:14There's a path outside your house where right next to a tree
00:18and we know what tree roots can do and it's slabbed rather than tarmac
00:21and the slabs have lifted and you had a fall.
00:25Take us from there.
00:27On the 1st of April I was walking back from the direction of Woolsey Road.
00:33Normal lovely sunny day.
00:35It was actually Easter Monday if you remember.
00:38And as I was walking on the next thing I remember I was lying face down screaming in agony.
00:44The neighbour across the road, a young lad heard me scream.
00:47He came out.
00:49Anthony then heard, my husband heard the commotion.
00:51He came out to see what and the two of them lifted me off the floor.
00:55Brought me into the house, ran for an ambulance.
00:58And we've got a bit of footage where when Anthony came out
01:01obviously the motion kicked in the ring doorbell and there you are on the floor there.
01:07And what had you done to yourself then?
01:09What were the injuries?
01:10When they took me to hospital, first of all they were concerned about my wrist
01:15because obviously my left wrist was in trouble.
01:19But this hand was very painful.
01:20I took the skin and I dislocated those two fingers.
01:24And they sent me down for an x-ray and they found I'd broken my wrist in two places.
01:30And then another doctor came in and looked at my facial injuries
01:35and he said I had to go for a brain scan.
01:37So they couldn't give me any morphine because I had to go for the brain scan.
01:41And when I came back apparently I'd missed my dose of morphine for the brain.
01:47So I spent, that was about 20 past four I think when I was admitted.
01:53And it was quarter to midnight when they set my arm.
02:00And it's not been plain sailing has it?
02:04So you had to have a plate put in your wrist.
02:07Yeah a week later I had to go back to the fracture clinic.
02:10Yeah.
02:10And Mr Blackwell said that the fracture was unstable and that I would need an operation.
02:16That I admit I burst into tears as I was terrified of having a malassetic.
02:21I went through with the operation on the 12th of April
02:24and went to have the stitches removed because I was going on holiday.
02:30Had some butterfly put over to tie me over for my holiday.
02:35Got back and on the 6th of May I noticed my arm had gone bright red and I had an infection.
02:43Yeah.
02:44I was admitted overnight, put on an antibiotic drip overnight, told I'd need another operation.
02:50Which they didn't do, they put me with more antibiotics.
02:55And I've been in pain ever since, constant pain, day and night, not sleeping.
02:59Yeah you've been having to come down from upstairs in during the night.
03:02I'm not sleeping in the same bed as my husband now.
03:05Yeah.
03:05I'll keep him awake and he's in pain with his hips on.
03:08Yeah and the end result you ended up at that plate was going to stay in there
03:14but the pain was just going on and on.
03:16Yeah.
03:16So the doctor said, well hang on, you shouldn't be in this much pain still.
03:20So last week they took the plate out and they realised why you were in pain.
03:25There was a screw loose on the plate wasn't there?
03:26That's right, yeah.
03:28So the slabs are obviously a problem.
03:32I mean we'll, you know, we'll show that on the video that I can see how they're raised up
03:36and it's not just here, it's on a few spots on the path isn't it?
03:38Yeah.
03:39What's been the response of, well the Samwell Council that's responsible for the path,
03:44what have they said about the slabs being dangerous?
03:47First of all I filled in a form for compensation, well first of all I reported the issue
03:54and I've got a reference number for that.
03:57Then I said I'll do a claim, compensation claim.
04:03That's cost me quite a lot of money.
04:05Yeah.
04:06Well we should we should say, I mean this was back in April,
04:08you've not been able to drive have you?
04:10No.
04:10You've had no strength in you, it's just starting to come back a little bit now.
04:14Anthony couldn't, yeah, because he can't drive long distances because he's,
04:17what as I say, he's in an emergency.
04:19Yeah, yeah.
04:20Yeah, I had to pay an extra £161 on top of my insurance so that I could go on the cruise.
04:27They wouldn't let me on the cruise without added insurance.
04:30Yeah.
04:31So that cost me.
04:33I've broke my watch clasp, I had to have that repaired.
04:37I lost my star now to my term tubing, my emerald, I still haven't had that replaced.
04:42And I tore my coat.
04:44Apart from that, there was blood all over the pavement, it was in a bad state now.
04:49But they know the plate's out, the pain is finally easing,
04:53but I've had nine months of constant pain.
04:56So they're saying, yes, well they're saying slabs can be raised,
05:03and obviously you tripped on it, but they're saying it's a certain,
05:06what was the distance before they class it as an issue?
05:09It doesn't meet the criteria, it has to be raised one inch before they repair.
05:15However, they'd sent a copy of a report they'd done back on the,
05:21about three weeks before my accident, and there's something saying 75, which is outside.
05:28I'll show you a copy of the report later, that there was a defect.
05:32In the paving?
05:33In the paving, but in their mind it's not enough to rectify.
05:38And so it's still not been rectified, has it? It's still there?
05:41It's still not been done.
05:43And their answer, finally, when I pursued it,
05:47and Connor Horton's pursued it, and took videos of it,
05:52of the state of the pavement, that in particular, but in the avenue as well.
05:57And now it's affecting my neighbour's drive,
05:59who was also making a claim against the council, which they've done nothing about.
06:04And they, now they're saying that I would be, the letter reads as if I,
06:10it says, if they settled claims, I'd be robbing public funds.
06:16Yeah, so it's almost putting a guilt trip on you, isn't it?
06:20Yeah, as if I'm...
06:20If we have to pay you out, then...
06:22Yeah, you know, you're taking money out of the public funds.
06:26Yeah, yeah. So it must leave you very frustrated that, you know,
06:31you tripped on that slab, which is an obvious trip hazard,
06:33and it's nothing's been done.
06:35No.
06:35You know, you must be kind of livid about it, really.
06:38Well, they're waiting. Now, what they say is, has anyone else fallen?
06:42We're waiting.
06:43Yeah.
06:43I mean, my husband will tell you, when they took me in, he said,
06:47I don't know, you didn't break your neck.
06:48Yeah, yeah.
06:49If they started, the way I fell, I felt completely fire splattered.
06:53Somebody who's less agile than me, would have been more severe, wouldn't it?
06:57Frustratingly so, just round the corner on the estate, where the paths are kind of newer,
07:03they've re-tarmacked all them.
07:05Yeah.
07:05And you cross over the border, just down the road to Walsall,
07:08and you were saying they're all tarmacked as well.
07:10They're all tarmacked in Walsall, yeah.
07:11Yeah. So does it knock your confidence in terms of going out?
07:14Oh yeah, I walk in the middle of the road.
07:16Yeah.
07:16It's mad at me.
07:17Yeah.
07:17I won't walk on the bounds anymore. I walk.
07:19Yeah.
07:20Even the neighbours have noticed, you know, that I'm frightened now.
07:24Yeah.
07:24I'm constantly looking down, you know.
07:26Yeah, yeah. So what would you, what would you like the council to do?
07:32I guess the first thing would be to, if the policy is that that's not bad enough for them
07:37to fix it, I guess you'd like to see that change, wouldn't you?
07:40You know, if it's a trip hazard, it's a trip hazard. You want it to be fixed.
07:43I can't see the difference between three quarters of an inch and an inch.
07:49What's the difference between that quarter of an inch that you wouldn't trip over?
07:52Yeah.
07:52I mean, even half an inch it could trip over.
07:54Yeah.
07:55But you know, it's not just there. I mean, it's all the way down the avenue.
08:00Yeah.
08:00And when they asked me, has anyone else fallen? I don't know.
08:04Well, yeah, they may have, haven't they?
08:05All I know, when I go now for the buses, which I have to go out. If I go for the buses
08:12and people ask me, because I could see my arm was in plaster for a long time, they'd say to me,
08:16um, oh, you know, how did you do that? And I said, oh, I know. Isn't it bad in your avenue?
08:23The amount of people who said that to me.
08:25Well, you've still, you've got your support on there. Is that, look, just a bit, let's have a look.
08:28Yeah. Well, I've still got, um, I've still got stitches to dissolve in my wrist.
08:33Yeah. Cause obviously it was only last Wednesday you had that plate out.
08:36So I've got to keep, I can't, this is another thing you say before this, I was very active.
08:43We do a Latin American ballroom dancing. We go swimming. I swim a mile a week.
08:49We, my husband goes twice a week as a physio, but we, I swim, I do all my own housework,
08:55my garden and everything. Antony's had to shower me because I couldn't get it wet for six weeks.
09:01I've been.
09:01Well, wasn't it, was it, am I right in saying it was affecting your vision as well? You were kind
09:06of headaches and a bit of blurbiness.
09:08Oh yeah, like headaches for weeks after with my facial injuries, it was horrendous.
09:12Yeah. And your vision as well, that would then affect it. Yeah.
09:15So it's true to say you've been through the mill with it.
09:19It's been, the last nine months have been a nightmare. When we came to New Year's Eve,
09:25I just said, I hope next year it's going to be a better year because I've had,
09:30the only good thing that come out of last year was we had a new great-granddaughter.
09:33Yeah. And you've got, you've been left with a scar. We can't see it, but you're very
09:38good with your makeup, you've, on your, on your forehead. So you, yeah.
09:41Just, I think it will fade in time, but I know it's there.
09:44Yeah. I can see it in the light and I don't block it out.
09:48Well, we wish you all the best with your, your coming year and let's hope
09:55something's done about these paths. Yeah. All the best. Thanks for talking to us.
10:00So there's an interesting bit on the, on the letter you had back there,
10:03which you referenced in our little chat, but just read that top line.
10:06Yeah. This was from Alan Lunt, Executive Director of Place.
10:12At Samwell Council. Yeah. Samwell Council. The second paragraph reads,
10:16I want to point out here that it is important that we decide whether to accept liability in
10:21a fair way. If we accepted all claims, for example, whether justified or not,
10:26we would be paying out a lot of money in compensation, money that comes from council
10:31tax and which could be used to pay for essential services. Why we want to be fair to people who
10:37have been injured in force. We also must be fair to all our communities and protect our finances
10:43where it is right to do so. So effectively it's saying, even if you've got, even if you trip on
10:49something and it's a justified claim, it makes sense for the council to not pay you to save,
10:56save, you know, any money. Right. Okay.