A pensioner who broke her ankle in a pothole in a public car park says a council denied there was a problem even though they filled in 15 potholes in the same car park just days after her accident.
Penny Gibbons, 71, was left howling in agony after tripping in the pothole-ridden car park of Slough Crematorium when she was helping at a funeral.
Her injury – confirmed as a break in hospital – led to a year of pain which was so severe she could not even sleep.
But to her disgust, when she complained to Slough Borough Council, she says they stonewalled her complaints for three years before finally denying liability claiming no-one had reported a problem before.
But during her fight for justice she said she received emails from the council that showed that ten days after she tripped an order was made that the 15 potholes in the car park be filled in ‘after a member of the public fell over and broke their ankle’.
Grandmother Mrs Gibbons said she is ‘disgusted’ that the council ignored her and denied liability even though they admitted the car park was subject to weekly checks.
She finally received an answer from the council in February this year, but only after she had contacted her local MP in Stanwell, Middlesex, as well as the Slough MP, and both the leader and chief executive of Slough council.
So much time had elapsed that even her solicitors – who had told her she could expect to receive £7,500 in compensation – had given up on the case.
Penny Gibbons, 71, (pictured) was left howling in agony after tripping in the pothole-ridden car park of Slough Crematorium
Ms Gibbons endured months of pain after breaking her ankle in a pothole – a danger the council denied liability over
Her injury was confirmed as a break in hospital and Ms Gibbons had a boot on her leg which resulted in painful sciatica for a year – stopping her from sleeping
The council ultimately told Mrs Gibbons – via their Suffolk-based claims handler – that as ‘no reports or complaints about the location had been received by the Slough Crematorium prior to your report’ in the 12 months of data they viewed, no compensation would be due.
The retired secretary said: ‘I had to take matters into my own hands. And now I have a file of documents as thick as my waist. I went through 14 stages before I got their answer!
‘It’s disgraceful, and I told them all – ‘shame on you’ in an email. Would they want their own mother or grandmother to go through this?’
Mrs Gibbons – who lives with her daughter, son in law and two grandchildren – had the accident back in May 2022.
‘Lots of people saw me trip and scream in pain,’ she said. ‘It was agony.’
The next day she was given a lift to hospital where she was X-rayed, told she had broken her ankle and given a special boot to wear. But the impediment to her walking brought on ‘excruciating’ sciatica.
‘With painkillers, the pain from the broken ankle disappeared after about three months,’ she said. ‘But that from the sciatica went on for a whole year.’
She contacted a firm of solicitors who then spent two years trying to seek a response from the council before throwing in the towel.
The grandmother tripped on the pothole in Slough Crematorium car park in May 2022 (pictured) at a service she was helping with
The council subsequently filled in the pothole (pictured) but denied that it had been a problem and denied liability for Mrs Gibbons’ injury
A firm of solicitors spent two years trying to seek a response from the council on behalf of Mrs Gibbons before throwing in the towel leaving the mother frustrated
The car park was supposedly subject to weekly checks but the council denied liability for the dangerous state of the surface
‘I’ve researched the matter and councils should give you an answer about such claims after three months,’ she said.
‘I felt like I was banging my head against a brick wall,’ she added. ‘It all made me very anxious.
‘Councils pay out when people’s tyres are damaged in potholes, but when a pensioner breaks her foot in one, they ignore her. I think it’s a tactic they use to hope the whole thing goes away.’
Mrs Gibbons also noted that in December the Government announced it was giving councils £1.6 billion to repair potholes.
She fumed: ‘They are spending money on immigrants, illegal or otherwise, to go to McDonalds and the circus, but an old age pensioner damages herself on their property and they get nothing.
‘I have worked and paid taxes all my life. Sometimes I had three jobs at once.’
A Slough Borough Council spokeswoman said: ‘We have denied Mrs Gibbons’ claim. However we are sorry this case took so long to reach a conclusion and apologise for any inconvenience those delays have caused Mrs Gibbons and her family.’
