Salisbury pensioner fell backwards through broken New Canal bus stop

Elizabeth Rodber, 69, was left breathless after falling onto a kerb and badly injuring herself on Tuesday afternoon, January 2.

The domestic cleaner, of Festival Avenue in Salisbury, had sat on a bench waiting for the R1 at New Canal when she leaned back and, to her surprise, realised that a pane of glass on the shelter had been broken.

There were no warning signs and Wiltshire Council said it was unaware of the missing pane of glass before Mrs Rodber reported that she had been hurt.

A member of the public came to her aid, Mrs Rodber said: "I couldn't speak to him as the pain was so bad it took my breath away."

Elizabeth Rodber said an apology isn't good enough. (Image: Newsquest)

Mrs Rodber took herself to A&E at Salisbury District Hospital shortly afterwards but decided to go home since it was very busy.

She returned the following day where she was "doubled over in pain" while an X-ray was taken of her chest.

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While Mrs Rodber is still awaiting the result of the X-ray, she had to take two days off work due to the intense pain and said an apology from Wiltshire Council was not good enough.

"It was not my fault. I just sat on the seat like everyone else but I didn't realise there was no glass and went straight back," she said.

Since the incident, the bench has been replaced by a cone and a small piece of tape now dangles on part of the broken bus stop.

Councillor Caroline Thomas, Wiltshire's cabinet member for transport, said: “We were sorry to hear about this incident, and we hope that the lady involved has been checked out and is feeling better.

“We were not made aware that the bus stop in New Canal had a missing pane of glass prior to the incident, but we have instructed our contractors to visit and make the bus stop safe until we can arrange for a replacement glass pane to be installed."

Mrs Rodber is concerned that more people may get hurt as there are pieces of broken glass around the bus stop which have not been cleared up.

"I don't think I could accept the word sorry," she added.

Cllr Thomas said anyone can report issues with bus shelters, such as missing glass or lighting issues using the MyWilts app or by visiting wiltshire.gov.uk/mywilts/.

Nikki Honer, head of communications at Salisbury Reds, said: “We are responsible for the bus stop displays and our dedicated bus stop technician updates these with roadwork information and new timetables if they have changed.

“However the infrastructure is ultimately the council’s responsibility, If any of our employees do notice a defective stop during the course of their day, they do report it to the council immediately.  We are sorry if any of our customers have been affected by this broken stop and hope it can be repaired very soon.”