AN 83-year-old Blayney widow says the town’s footpaths are in such bad shape that she is scared to walk on them after a nasty fall left her battered and bruised last week.
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Sheila Gerke sustained bruising over her whole body and had skin torn off her face after she tripped on a “terribly cracked pavement” in Adelaide Street whilst on her way to a senior citizens luncheon.
“I got out of the car and fell face down onto this terrible cracked piece pavement,” Mrs Gerke, who is now sore all over, said.
“Thankfully I had a few people come out and help me because when you’re my age you don’t bounce.”
Mrs Gerke said she went straight down to the Blayney Shire Council offices after the fall to complain about the “disgusting state of the footpaths” but was surprised with the response she received.
“I spoke to a girl at the front counter about it and she got my details and said someone would contact me but I still haven’t heard anything.
“I feel ignored by the council and I think its bad they haven’t got back to me.”
Mrs Gerke said the fall has left her very shaken and along with other elderly members of the community, very concerned about the state of footpaths.
“I am scared to walk on the footpaths, they are very bad and a lot of people my age are very concerned about them.”
“We have to be very careful and we must get them fixed,” she said.
Mrs Gerke’s fall is not an isolated case -numerous other residents shared their experiences with bad footpaths in Blayney on the Blayney Chronicle’s Facebook page.
“My 3-year-old fell over an uneven join in the footpath across the road from the Police Station in Adelaide Street on Friday. Mums with prams would also know that the footpaths are absolutely shocking around town when using a pram - that is if there is a footpath to use,” Raelene Mulligan wrote.
“There are some footpaths that have 20cm sections missing out of them which could be very dangerous for the elderly...” Jeanette Hempel posted.
“I fell on an uneven path on Adelaide street just down from the library and twisted my ankle two years ago , it was quiet bad, lucky for me a man driving past saw what happened, stopped and drove me home,” Beck Ellis wrote.
“My 78yr old mum had a nasty fall on the footpath near the newsagency and was taken to hospital... spent some time in the hospital because of it...” Shirley Anderson posted.l because of it.. the footpaths are like goat tracks to be honest
As at 1pm yesterday morning, nobody from Blayney Shire Council had contacted Mrs Gerke regarding her complaint.
