A 71-year-old woman who said she broke her ankle after tripping in a pothole at Slough Crematorium says the local council denied there was any problem with the car park even though it ordered 15 pothole repairs days after her accident.
Penny Gibbons, who was attending and helping at a funeral in May 2022, said she tripped in a crater in the crematorium car park, was taken to hospital the next day where X-rays confirmed a broken ankle, and suffered prolonged sciatica while using a medical boot. She said the injury caused months of pain and disrupted sleep.
Gibbons said she contacted Slough Borough Council to seek redress but received no substantive response for three years. She said, and correspondence provided to reporters shows, that emails from the council later revealed an internal order made 10 days after her fall to fill "15 potholes in the car park" and that the repairs were to take place "after a member of the public fell over and broke their ankle."
The council, through a Suffolk-based claims handler, ultimately denied liability, telling Gibbons that no reports or complaints about that location had been received by the crematorium in the 12 months of data they reviewed. The authority also said the site was subject to weekly checks. A Slough Borough Council spokeswoman said the council had denied the claim and apologised for delays that had affected Gibbons and her family.
Gibbons said her solicitors had anticipated a settlement of about £7,500 but ceased pursuing the case after two years of limited response from the council. She said she wrote to local MPs and senior council figures and only received a reply in February this year after escalating the matter.
Describing her experience, Gibbons said she was "disgusted" the council initially denied there was a problem and later acknowledged the repairs. She said the delays compounded the physical and emotional toll of the injury, and that she felt forced to compile documents and press the authority for answers herself.
Gibbons lives with family in Stanwell, Middlesex. She said she was unable to walk without the boot for several months and that the sciatica persisted for about a year. Her case prompted criticism from her about how councils handle compensation claims, particularly for older residents.
The sequence of events presented to reporters shows the accident in May 2022, the council order to repair multiple potholes roughly 10 days later, and protracted communications over the following three years before the council's formal denial of liability. Gibbons and her representatives said the length of that process left her solicitors unwilling to continue.
In response to questions, the Slough Borough Council spokeswoman reiterated that the authority had denied the claim and apologised for the time taken to reach a conclusion. The council did not provide details of the weekly inspection regime cited in its response or the specific evidence relied on in denying liability.
The case comes as central government has allocated additional funding intended to help councils repair road defects, including potholes. Gibbons said she believed the response to her claim illustrated a wider problem in how local authorities handle reports of dangerous surfaces and compensation requests, particularly when injuries are involved.
Attempts to obtain further comment from Gibbons's former solicitors were not successful. The council did not provide further comment beyond its statement apologising for delays and confirming the claim had been denied.