Woman, 78, is latest victim of poor pavements

She suffered a large gash to the eye after tripping over in West Parade on Tuesday.

The woman was taken to the Conquest Hospital by ambulance and the wound around her left eye was so bad it needed 12 stitches.

She was walking alone at around 11.15am when she tripped on an uneven slab on the north side of West Parade close to the junction with Park Road.

A passer-by-by came to her aid and took her to her West Parade home. Husband Douglas Cole called for an ambulance.

He said: "She had sustained a deep crescent-shaped cut around the left eye and lesser damage to her left hand and right knee. Naturally she was considerably shocked."

The Observer has been deluged with letters and phone calls about the poor state of Bexhill's pavements after we pictured the bruised face of Pebsham pensioner Pat Aldersley last month, who fell on a raised slab in Town Hall Square.

The town's Victorian-stlye slabbed pavements have become cracked and uneven after years of neglect and damage caused by vehicles parking on them. Parts of Bexhill have been re-paved with a safer tarmac surface and the whole of Devonshire Road will be done this summer. But that still leaves many streets with uneven pavements which are a daily hazard for Bexhill's elderly population.

Incidents like Mrs Cloe's fall have become alarmingly frequent.

Mr Cole has written to Rother District Council to complain.

He added: "I feel that urgent action needs to be taken to rectify this and other dangerous pavement slabs in Bexhill and wish to know what the council proposes to do about it."

Pavements are looked after by East Sussex County Council.

According to highways boss Graham Furness, they are inspected monthly and any slabs protruding more than an inch are replaced.

Areas where there are more than five or six dangerous slabs, like the north end of Sackville Road, are resurfaced with tarmac.