A woman has been left with a suspected broken ankle after it was claimed she fell into a huge pothole in a North Yorkshire car park.
Sally Philburn, from Barnsley, was on a weekend day trip to Flamborough with her husband and son on Sunday 23 January just before the disaster struck.
The trio drove home in the afternoon, stopping in Malton to charge up their electric Motability car, which Sally is a candidate for due to diagnoses of fibromyalgia – which causes chronic, widespread pain in the body – and arthritis.
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The family had locked up their car in the St Nicholas Street car park and gone to a nearby cafe for a cup of coffee while they waited for the car to be charged.
But when they returned to the car park just before 5pm, the family claimed it was “pitch black” and Sally said there was “absolutely no light” in the car park, after which she claimed she had fallen and seriously injured herself .
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She told YorkshireLive: “It was around 5am so it had just gotten dark and we had walked through the car park and got back to the car. My son was in front of me and he had gotten out of the way and I fell into a pothole.
“When I fell into the hole my husband caught me and if he didn’t I probably would have broken my arm.
“We drove back to Barnsley and I took a cab to our emergency room. They said it’s so swollen they can’t tell if it’s broken yet.”
Sally said that despite her “agony” she had no choice but to drive her family home from Malton as her husband doesn’t drive and their son isn’t old enough.
Sally’s foot is so swollen that doctors haven’t been able to tell her if it’s broken
“Luckily we have an electric car, so I was able to drive home since I didn’t have to use that foot to drive,” she said.
But Sally’s husband Phil had been on the verge of calling an ambulance immediately as he was so worried about his wife.
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He said: “[It could have been] Truly avoidable, this is a pain. I caught her, otherwise it would have been on her face. The parking lot was pitch black.
“Then she drove back to Barnsley in immense pain [got a taxi] up to A&E.”
Sally, who already struggles with mobility, said she now “can’t put her foot on the ground at all” and said her foot looks misshapen.
She said: “I had a problem with my other ankle so now it’s my best ankle that I just broke.
Sally had been on a day trip with her husband and son when disaster struck
“I wish I had stayed home now. Just got over Covid and this weekend was my first trip, we had just gone out for the day and looked at the Flamborough Lighthouse so I’d managed all the slippery ground there and then fell into a car park.
“My husband said he could put his whole foot in the pothole and he’s a size 12.”
Phil said that Sally is now unemployed with no pay and is waiting until she is well enough to return to work.
Ryedale Borough Council declined a request for comment.
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