A MAN who tripped on a broken kerb, leaving him with facial injuries, has slammed the council for failing to repair the damage - more than three months after his incident.

Albert Keeping, 72, was walking his dog during the evening of March 14 when he crossed Long Riding, Basildon, tripped on the slab and smashed his face on the pavement.

Echo:

Injury - the offending kerb

Echo:

Sore - Mr Keeping's injured finger

He was left with a black eye, a cut to his eyebrow, as well as damage to his tendon in his finger (called Mallet Finger).

Mr Keeping has had to wear a splint on his finger for eight weeks and still attends physio.

The family attempted to sue Essex Highways but because the council was aware of the fault and had been given a time frame of 28 days to fix it, the Keepings lost their court battle as Albert’s accident occurred within the 28 days.

Mr Keeping, said: “My finger is still very painful and I have to go to physiotherapy to try and get the movement back.

“I feel very let down by the council and Essex Highways and angry that the kerb still hasn’t been repaired three months on.

“I felt so vulnerable afterwards having to walk around with a black eye - it felt like people saw me as a soft target.

“I was being targeted by people - someone even tried to rob me and said they were going to pull a knife on me.”

Luckily, a police car was passing and officers were able to help Mr Keeping on the night after spotting him lying on the ground.

His daughter Anita Keeping, 40, said: “I am so grateful to the police officers Anna and Sean who helped my dad and took him home that night.

“Dad has been so upset by it all, it shook him up and made him quite unwell afterwards - he felt really run down.”

After seeing the state her father was in, Miss Keeping raced him to A&E that night.

Anita added: “I think the council don’t take reports and complaints seriously and are too lax with repairs and residents get ignored.

“The kerb still hasn’t been repaired to this day, which isn’t a surprise to us as there are other damaged paving areas where we live too.”

Despite having left the faulty kerb three months on from Mr Keeping’s fall, the council say they are due to repair it this week and offered their apologies to the family.

After being approached by the Echo, an Essex Highways spokesperson said: “We are very sorry to hear about this gentleman’s fall.

“We hope he has made a good recovery. The damaged kerb was re-inspected on April 26 following receipt of Mr Keeping’s solicitor’s enquiry.

“A new risk assessment was carried out, which concluded in a Priority Three defect which is now scheduled to be repaired this week.”