A PENSIONER was left in serious pain and suffered extensive bruising to her head and body after tripping over a damaged pavement in Cirencester.

Margaret Jones, 80, of Chesterton, Cirencester, was walking across the bridge over the A429 towards Waitrose last Thursday at 1.55pm, when she tripped over the pavement which she said had broken-up due to general wear and tear.

She suffered an extremely heavy fall which caused a large number of injuries including a bruise the size of a dinner plate on her hip, bruising on her ribs and knees, a damaged wrist and thumb and a cut to her head, where her glasses had smashed on impact with the ground.

"I was walking along normally when suddenly I felt my foot get stuck and I thought 'uh oh' as I went over. I was just by the railings on the bridge over the main road where the pavement has broken-up. Luckily a man driving past saw what happened and stopped to help," she said.

"He stayed with me for a long time and was very kind so I want to thank him. A nurse then stopped as she went past and they called an ambulance but we waited for over an hour and it didn't show up.

"It was starting to rain and I was very cold so they decided to take me to hospital rather than wait any longer."

Mrs Jones was initially treated at Cirencester Hospital for her injuries but she was then sent to Gloucestershire Royal Hospital for further scans and x-rays. 

She says she felt lucky that she hadn't broken any bones but was in a lot of pain from her injuries. 

"The man and the nurse were lovely and stayed with me for a long time. When my son was able to arrive they allowed me to go home. By then it was about 2am so it was a 12 hour ordeal."

Mrs Jones said that staff at Gloucestershire Royal Hospital thought she had tripped over a kerb in Cirencester town centre, as they had been inundated with people injuring themselves after the new kerbs were introduced as part of the Market Place regeneration scheme.

"They were surprised when I told them it wasn't the kerb. Hopefully by raising this issue now then more people can be made aware and be careful when they are walking in that area. I wouldn't want this to happen to anyone else," she added.