Page 3 Profile: Janet Faal, grandmother/agoraphobic

This looks like an unfortunate set of circumstances…

It was indeed. Describing the pain as “awful”, Janet Faal, from West Sussex, fell down an open manhole during only the third time she has left her house in 10 years.

That is unlucky.

The 57-year-old is an agoraphobic, which means she is scared of being in situations where it might be difficult to escape. In an effort to rehabilitate, she went out with a friend last Friday.

Then what happened?

While in the forecourt of Complete Tyre Services, in Crawley, Faal was helping her friend to reverse out of the car park. “There was this wooden pallet in the way. I moved the pallet and took a step over – never in my life did I think there was a hole underneath,” she said. “But the next thing I knew, I fell and smashed my face on the pallet, and I was in the hole with blood all over me and I couldn’t move.” As well as a suspected leg fracture, Faal, a grandmother, broke her nose.

Where was the ‘elf and safety when you need it?

Faal had to wait close to an hour for an ambulance to arrive, but received help from a paramedic. A spokesman for South East Coast Ambulance Service said the call was considered a “class C”. “We always do our best to back up the first paramedic as soon as we can but life-threatening calls have to take priority,” he said.

Not an encouraging step into the big wide world, then?

Not really and Faal thinks she has been set back years. “I was with a friend – it’s hard for me to go anywhere, but I was getting better. Now I’m not so sure,” she said. Her son, Andy MacDonald, said: “Whoever owns that manhole should get it fixed and get it fixed right now. It’s ruined my mother’s recovery. I can’t believe it. Whoever owns that manhole has something serious to answer for.”

Surely someone will fix the manhole cover as soon as possible?

You would think, especially since the hole has been reported many times according to an employee of the tyre shop. But both the shop and their landlord are refusing to accept responsibility for fixing the manhole. “We have been trying to get the manholes in the forecourt fixed for years,” an employee said. Owner JP Supplies said it was down to the tenants to fix the manhole cover.