Grandmother claims £2.5m for stairs fall

Published on 28/06/2012 00:47

A WOMAN who says she suffered catastrophic injuries in a fall down a flight of “dangerous” stairs while taking her granddaughter to a play park is claiming £2.5 million in damages.

Heather Campbell, 48, has been left virtually housebound and confined to a wheelchair because of the accident, her lawyers have told a court.

Ms Campbell, of Cumbrae Drive, Falkirk, is suing Falkirk Council over the state of the stairs at the time of her fall in June 2008. The council denies liability and insists that the circumstances in which she was injured are unknown. She could not remember and there were no witnesses, it says.

The Court of Session in Edinburgh heard that Ms Campbell had taken her three-year-old grandchild to a play park, and on the way back they began to climb a flight of stairs at Davaar Place, Falkirk. It is alleged in her action that the stairs had been in a dangerous condition for at least ten years.

Ms Campbell was knocked unconscious. She sustained damage to her spinal cord, and a fractured skull and diffuse brain injury.

Falkirk Council said Ms Campbell had a history of drink and psychiatric problems, and had been under the influence of alcohol at the time of her injuries. She maintained she had only one glass of wine with lunch.

Lord Glennie, the judge, continued the case for an expert report.