Woman who twisted ankle in pothole still in ‘excruciating’ pain six months later

By Joe Coughlan, Local Democracy Reporter

A woman who “twisted her ankle” in a pothole says she is still in “excruciating” pain six months later, and is wondering why the council has still not repaired the road.

Ritu Saha, 47, lives in Sherman Road, Bromley, and uses nearby Bromley South railway station to commute to work.

Last December, she said that while crossing the road to get the bus home, she stepped into a pothole outside the station and twisted her ankle.

Ms Saha said: “My foot kind of fell into a pothole and I twisted my ankle so badly that I couldn’t even walk just a few steps necessary to get to the other side of the road.”

She added: “I had to actually call my husband to come and get me in the car because I could not move a single step.

“The next day, I was going to go into work. I could not manage the few steps from my house to my local bus stop, so I had to call in and work from home because I couldn’t walk. It took me several days to be able to walk properly.”

Ms Saha said she is still troubled by her injury six months later and is currently waiting to see a specialist. She said that the pain returns when she walks extended distances, such as when she went on holiday last week.

She said: “It was excruciating pain at the end of the day and it wasn’t even like I had exerted myself. The ankle which hadn’t been hurt was completely fine, but the one which was hurt six months ago is still in agony.

“With those sorts of things when I’m walking extended distances, even if it’s not very strenuous, it hurts.”

As well as her injury, Ms Saha said the state of the road outside Bromley South railway station, in Bromley High Street, is still “horrific”.

Ms Saha said she has not raised the problem directly with Bromley council as she found previous interactions with the authority on issues regarding her building “unhelpful”.

The resident said she has spoken about the issue online and wonders what her council tax is being spent on.

Ms Saha: “It’s really disappointing that in a council as rich as Bromley, which should be looking after the area, they take a lot of council tax from us.

“My council tax is more than £2,600 a year and the roads are still in this condition, which has caused me such a long-lasting injury.”

A Bromley council spokeswoman said in a statement on May 19 that a second contractor had been appointed by the council on a temporary basis to repair the borough’s potholes.

They said the typical number of potholes repaired before Christmas was 900, but harsh weather during the past winter had increased this to 1,500 jobs per month.

Conservative councillor Nicholas Bennett said: “There continue to be industry-wide shortages of staff to carry out this important work and there are a number of factors which mean this is an issue which is complex to completely resolve, which is why we are taking the action we have.

“Whilst we did take the decision to resurface Westmoreland Road, it is noteworthy that funding from TfL has reduced since 2018 for our principal road network where previously funding would have been available for such projects.”

Pictured top: Ritu Saha, 47, said the pain from her ankle can still be “excruciating” six months after the incident (Picture: Joe Coughlan)