A mum has been left in ‘excruciating pain’ after plummeting down a pothole and shattering both her ankles in Manchester.
Susan Kollatos, 68, was walking through the Northern Quarter on August 20 when she suddenly found herself writhing in pain on the floor.
She had fallen into a pothole outside The Studio hair salon along Stevenson Square at around 5.40pm.
‘It shook me up at first, I was laid out in the road. I’ve now got two black knees and black fingers as well,’ she said.
‘A pothole that size is nonsense in a public place like that, hundreds of people pass through there every day.’
Susan didn’t think much of the incident at first — she’d only sprained her joints, she thought — but when a colleague drove her to hospital, doctors told her it was far worse.
She said: ‘I was in excruciating pain when it happened. The doctors told me it is really unusual to see someone with two broken ankles at the same time.’
After ripping open her £125 trousers, doctors said she will have to wear heavy-duty boots for the next six weeks and will struggle to walk for at least six months.
But her troubles didn’t end there.
As a freelancer living in Leeds, Susan travels to Manchester for work. Now unable to leave the house due to her swollen ankles, she’s not sure how she’ll pay the bills.
She’ll also have to pay for the walker boots out of her own pocket, something she’s ‘really annoyed’ about.
Susan also suffers from fibromyalgia, a life-long condition that causes pain all over the body as well as chest pains, brain fog and depression.
She said: ‘It’s the knock-on effects as well as the shock of the accident. It needs to be highlighted.
‘I was just coming out of the office, it’s not like I’d had a drink or anything. Young children could fall down it and be seriously hurt.’
The Studio staff told Susan at the time that they’ve repeatedly raised the pothole problem to Manchester City Council, yet officials have yet to act.
‘A staff member came out of the hairdressers and said he’d reported the pothole four times already because his customers fall down it,’ said Susan.
‘I’ve reported it to the council but it just seems like they’re getting away with it.’
Andy Gosling, who works at The Studio, said the potholes aren’t a new problem — nine potholes out the salon have been plaguing the road since Covid-19.
‘I’ve seen people trip, people fall down on the ground,’ he said, adding: ‘I’ve tried calling the council but had no joy. I’ve also sent a couple of emails but just got nowhere.’
There are 2,356 potholes littering the roads of the City of Manchester, according to research by Manchester-based personal injury specialists JMW Solicitors.
Since 2017, Manchester City Council officials have been patching up the city’s potholes as part of a £100 million scheme to improve public roads.
The five-year plan will be finished by 2022.
Metro.co.uk contacted Manchester City Council for comment.
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