A Cardiff woman, Jill Foward, ended up in the hospital after falling on a section of pavement in Rumney that residents have described as “treacherous” and “shocking.” The incident occurred where Wentloog Road meets Brachdy Road, an area notorious for its loose and uneven paving slabs that have reportedly caused multiple accidents.
Jill Foward, a 70-year-old resident of Rumney, had just been discharged from the hospital after treatment for internal bleeding. On May 24, while hurrying out of a chemist to catch a taxi, she tripped on the uneven pavement. “I stepped out of the chemist and went to hurry across to where the taxi was waiting because I had been longer than I’d expected, and my foot caught in the paving slabs,” she recounted. “I tried to save myself three times from going down into a fall, but I couldn’t. I fell flat on my face, knocking my jaw, and the side of my head, and bruising under both eye sockets. My knees were grazed, and the palms of my hands were really red.”
Jill, a retired vicar, described feeling “smarting from head to foot” and “shaken up” by the fall. “Before I fell, I wasn’t in any discomfort. I can’t walk fast, but I wasn’t in any discomfort or pain prior to falling. I have been in pain ever since.”
Residents have called for urgent repairs to the hazardous pavement to prevent further injuries. However, Cardiff Council has stated that an investigation confirmed the area is not under the local authority’s jurisdiction.