'Builders put my arm in plaster'

From the Telegraph & Argus, first published Monday 7th Jun 2004.

An inquiry has been launched after a partially-sighted pensioner was badly injured when she fell outside her home.

Betty Basford, 74, said she stumbled over a pile of waste outside her home in Springdale Crescent, Thorpe Edge.

She hit scaffolding, shattering her arm and injuring her head as she fell.

"I went out of the back door because the drain was blocked with rubble," said Mrs Basford.

"There was water everywhere every time I washed up.

"All I can remember is tripping over the rubble, going down and hitting my head. I was shouting for my grandson. He told a next door neighbour who called an ambulance.

"My arm's shattered. They can't fix it properly."

Mrs Basford was taken to hospital by ambulance where surgeons re-pinned the compound fracture.

Now back home, with her arm in plaster and her arm and head heavily bruised, Mrs Basford tearfully re-lived her ordeal.

She blamed contractors who have been carrying out extensive interior and external work on the semi-detached house for nearly three months.

The property, clad in scaffolding, is being refurbished by Bradford Commun-ity Housing Trust.

Over the past 12 weeks workmen have put in central heating, ripped up floorboards, carried out plumbing and plastering work and undertaken roof repairs.

"It's like living on a building site," said Mrs Basford.

"I've had to keep everything in boxes. The builders have plonked things all over the place."

Mrs Basford, who lives with her son and grandson since being widowed last August, will have to keep the plaster cast on her arm for at least four weeks.

She then faces an intensive course of physiotherapy to regain the use of her wrist.

Mrs Basford's daughter Pamela Holdsworth, a care nurse, said: "They shouldn't leave elderly people like this. This has been going on for ten weeks. They've been making a right mess and it hasn't finished yet.

"They should have moved my mum out while the work was going on."

Housing Trust officer Jill Tyndall has visited Mrs Basford to begin investigating whether the rubble strewn along the length of the garden path and around the house could have caused her fall.

Chris Hodgson, head of operations for North Bradford Community Housing Trust, said: "We're very sorry to hear of this lady's accident.

"We will be investigating the cause and contacting the family as soon as we have information."

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