Bromley woman who hurt ankle from pothole still in pain after 6 months

Ritu Saha, 47, lives in Bromley and uses the nearby Bromley South train 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.

Potholes on the High Street, after Bromley South station

Ms Saha told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “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.

• TRENDING: Bromley Council announces plan to fix the borough’s potholes 

"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.

The local said that the pain returns when she walks extended distances, such as when she went on holiday last week.

• READ MORE: Bromley’s ‘pothole problem’ highlighted with Crocs and funny toys 

She said: “It was excruciating pain at the end of the day and it wasn’t even like I had exerted myself.

Potholes on the High Street outside Bromley South station

"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 Station, High Street, is still “horrific”.

She said she is now more mindful about the potholes in the area as she does not want to injure herself any more

She said: “The road in that area is horrendous and it’s quite busy. There are lots of buses coming and stopping at the station.

"It gets busy with school children as well and there are a lot of elderly residents in Bromley who go to the shops and walk in that area. So why isn’t anything being done?”

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 spokesperson 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 1500 jobs per month.

Conservative Councillor Nicholas Bennett, Executive Councillor for Transport, Highways and Road Safety for Bromley Council, said in a statement: “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.”

Cllr Bennett thanked residents for their understanding and for reporting potholes to the council.

He also asked locals to bear with the council while work is being done.

Bromley Council was approached for comment, but had not responded at the time of publication.