Number of people falling in Widemarsh Street revealed

8:50am Monday 6th August 2012 in Local News By Paul Broome

Refurbished Widemarsh Street in Hereford Refurbished Widemarsh Street in Hereford

A TOTAL of 41 people reported tripping over in refurbished Widemarsh Street in the space of 15 months.

The figure was revealed at a recent meeting of Herefordshire Council , two years after the authority spent £1.3 million renovating the city centre street.

Councillor Brian Wilcox urged people to take care after the first few falls before engineers turned to 20mm-wide black gaffer tape in a bid to avert the injuries mounting.

But complaints continued.

Emily Lewis, from Kings Acre, broke her elbows outside Symonds and Co and antiques expert-turned-TV presenter David Barby appeared to fall on Widemarsh Street while filming an episode of the appropriately-named Antiques Road Trip.

Eighty-two-year-old Inge Woolstenholmes, who helped run a bed and breakfast in Whitecross, died in Hereford County Hospital after falling in Widemarsh Street, but the coroner’s office has said her death is not believed to be as a result of the fall or the new street layout.

Herefordshire Council cabinet member for highways Councillor Adrian Blackshaw said the number represents a tiny fraction of the people who walk along the street without incident each day.

“It is inevitable that there will be a small number of incidents every year across the county, not all of which are necessarily reported to the council,” he said.

The latest figures - which equate to 0.0006 per cent of the estimated 122,450 people using the street every week - relate to a period from January 2011 to the end of March this year.

Comments(22)

William Rudd says...
9:24am Mon 6 Aug 12

David Barby stumbled outside the butter market and hit his face on a bench

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William Rudd says...
9:30am Mon 6 Aug 12

David Barby said he stumbled and hit his face on a street bench so it cannot be Widemarsh St can it.
He died nearly two weeks ago of a stroke

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apdor says...
12:58pm Mon 6 Aug 12

I would be more interested in how many of the people who tripped, drove them self into Hereford.

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Gillian1961 says...
3:26pm Mon 6 Aug 12

My friend came into Hereford on the bus, only been in town 5minutes when she fell of the curb in widemarsh st people came to her aid she smashed her glasses, her face legs knees elbows were covered in blood, she should of gone to hospital, but was inbarested so what home on the bus, weeks later she became very ill only to be hospitalize for fourteen weeks she had septisymer she was given 18months until she felt better it is two years she still can not drive, do her gardening walk far the tabets she is still taking is unbelievable all because she fell of that curb in Hereford, As she sued NO! whats the point the council will not omit they have made a **** up.

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Pete the pro says...
6:03pm Mon 6 Aug 12

And this figure is only the reported ones, I did it in the first week, it really is dangerous as some of the injuries indicate, get it fixed.

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littlewhitebull says...
6:39pm Mon 6 Aug 12

Will the council be renewing the 20mm gaffer tape along the edges of Widemarsh Street? The original material appears to be disappearing quite quickly.
Hopefully, the council will make a better job of spending large amounts of money on Broad Street.

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Lukio says...
9:30am Tue 7 Aug 12

Wow...a typical politician's answer there from Cllr. Blackshaw but would we expect anything less? It would be interesting to see comparison with other streets in Hereford such as St. Owens Street or Broad Street where there are easily distinguishable kerbs. I bet the ratio of footfall to accidents there are much less. Once again the Council have made a massive error of judgement and won't even make any admissions towards providing a safer solution to users of Widemarsh St.

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William Rudd says...
10:03am Tue 7 Aug 12

Am I the only person who can see this kerb?

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Lukio says...
10:54am Tue 7 Aug 12

Does your belligerence come naturally Cllr. Rudd or has taken years of nurturing? I am yet to see an intelligent, emphathetic or considered response from you on any comment you have made.

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Ubique5740 says...
12:15pm Tue 7 Aug 12

Perhaps the Council can answer Lukio's question re other streets in the city centre, also including High Town

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Lukio says...
12:34pm Tue 7 Aug 12

Don't expect answers from this Council from direct questions!

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apdor says...
2:25pm Tue 7 Aug 12

Maybe if you request the information from the council rather than posting a piece here there will be a chance they would respond.

Also I would like to see people taking responsibility for where they put their feet....... If you run in to the back of another car its your fault for not paying attention. If you fall over a step/kerb it should also be your fault for not looking where you are going !!

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SarahMc says...
9:22am Wed 8 Aug 12

I work in a shop along widemarsh street .people tripping on the curb happens on a daily occurrence.
Last week i saw to ambulances come down the street due to injuries from people tripping.

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SarahMc says...
9:30am Wed 8 Aug 12

Gillian1961 wrote:
My friend came into Hereford on the bus, only been in town 5minutes when she fell of the curb in widemarsh st people came to her aid she smashed her glasses, her face legs knees elbows were covered in blood, she should of gone to hospital, but was inbarested so what home on the bus, weeks later she became very ill only to be hospitalize for fourteen weeks she had septisymer she was given 18months until she felt better it is two years she still can not drive, do her gardening walk far the tabets she is still taking is unbelievable all because she fell of that curb in Hereford, As she sued NO! whats the point the council will not omit they have made a **** up.
I hope your friend feels better soon working in the street we see this a lot .My nan has very poor eye sight and won't even walk up this street because she can't even see this curb .

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SarahMc says...
9:31am Wed 8 Aug 12

William Rudd wrote:
Am I the only person who can see this kerb?
when your in your 70's and you have poor eyesight no!

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Biomech says...
1:00pm Wed 8 Aug 12

As much as I abhor this **** stain of a city, people need to stop being so **** retarded.

There have been curbs on that street for decades, it's not like they've suddenly put up an invisible brick wall. In fact, curbs are a very common piece of ANY walkway. It's about time people started to take responsibility for their actions instead of blaming everyone else.

Do these people make a habit of jumping down open manholes or walking into on coming traffic as well? Is that everyone else's fault too?

I go through Widemarsh street frequently when shopping, I used to work in WMSt, I've never tripped once. Why? Because
A: I know that paths have curbs and
B: I look where I'm going.

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Biomech says...
1:01pm Wed 8 Aug 12

... Just look at the photo in the article. The curbs are made of huge, almost white, slabs of concrete set against dark grey paving and a red bricked road. What is there not to see.

**** morons.

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Lukio says...
1:45pm Wed 8 Aug 12

Excellent generalisation ther Biomech. If you see someone fall down in Widemarsh St. you can have a rant at them for being a ****ing moron and tell them they should have looked where they are going instead of helping them. I expect that the 41 people injured by the inappropriate kerbs would really appreciate that. Part of the reason society is the way it is because of people like you with no empathy, care or interest in those around them.

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Biomech says...
5:10pm Wed 8 Aug 12

No you're misunderstanding, the reason society is the way it is, is because **** morons don't take responsibility for their own actions, thus, causing people like myself, and many others, to not give a ****.

If these skinjobs are too stupid to walk, then they deserve to fall on their face.

Hell, if half of them got their faces out of their phones while they walk, half of this wouldn't even be an issue.

And 41 people in 15 months, hardly a scandal. I bet you get more than that in the centre of town over a 1 month period.

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ArmadilloSackRace says...
11:10am Thu 9 Aug 12

People fall in all sorts of locations for various reasons. I bet more fall because of uneven footpaths riddled with potholes, or just bog-standard curbs.

I very much doubt that any more than the going rate for any area fall in Widemarsh Street, but it's easy to use the excuse of low curbs etc to cover up people's embarrassment and lack of awareness of things around them

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Babs853 says...
4:10pm Tue 21 Aug 12

My Grandmother- named in this article - fell heavily in Widemarsh Street, hit her head on the road, which caused severe head and facial injuries. She never regained consciousness and died 3 days later in hospital. Excuse me for airing my opinion that all these offensive remarks accusing the elderly of being thick or careless are sick and uncalled for. If you dont have anything constructive to say then please keep you drivel to yourself! Shame on you 'Biomech' for saying that my Grandma deserved to fall - you are beyond contempt. That's all.

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Biomech says...
1:46pm Wed 22 Aug 12

Poor effort Babs. Funny how when people want to try to force their point across they pull the old "yeah my mums dead" card out of the bag. Top tip, when you lie on the Internet, try not to make it so obvious.

You're 59, right - this month if I'm not mistaken. And Mrs Woolstenholmes was 82. That's a difference of 23 years in which time your own mother would have had to have been born AND given birth to you. Meaning that your supposed grandmother gave birth to your mother at around 11 years old. And your mother, in turn, gave birth to you at around 11/12 years old. Now you see how I know you're lying?

Furthermore, the article states that the cause of Mrs Woolstenholmes' death was NOT related to a fall in Widemarsh Street and, as such, has no bearing on this discussion.

Now that's out of the way let's get back on topic. At no point did I say an elderly person who can't lift their feet deserves to die. I said that the majority of the people tripping are people not watching where they are going, a proportion of which have their faces buried in their phones at the time. These people deserve to trip and make fools of themselves.

Now perhaps you should go back to liking photos of 6 week old babies on facebook ... after all, I'm sure you actually believe that a click of a mouse will cure their pseudo cancer.

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