Slab injury (From Barry And District News)

Slab injury

I write with a warning to all other Vale of Glamorgan Council tenants.

Last September, I tripped over a broken paving slab outside my front door and dislocated my right thumb.

I am right-handed and this has left me with a weakness that means I drop things, and have very little grip.

I went to a solicitor, who fought my case for me. But I was told that I could not be awarded any compensation because I had not reported the broken slab before the accident happened.

A week after I reported the accident, the slab was replaced, but this does not help me now.

I thought that because it is a council house, the property would have been inspected after the previous tenants left and this defect would have been noted then, as it was broken when I moved here in July 2002. But this was not the case.

So if you have any broken slabs near your home, call and report it before you have a serious accident and, like me, are left without any way of being compensated.

Jane Miller Stratford Green Barry