Disabled boy topples out of wheelchair in pothole fall

Angelina Sclafini-Murphy was pushing her seven-year-old son, Liam, down Dell Road in Watford, when she hit a pothole, causing the wheelchair to fall over with him in it.

While he was not badly injured, he hit his head and was “very shaken up” and she was bruised from trying to stop the chair from falling over and from picking Liam up off the ground.

The pothole is one of many in Dell Road

The 36-year-old housewife said there are countless potholes in the same road and she feels Hertfordshire County Council is “completely taking the mick” by refusing to fix them.

She said: “Liam had only come home from hospital two weeks ago and we were both so excited to get out in the nice weather.

“Liam was waving away, so happy to be outside and then this happened - I tried as hard as I could to stop it from falling over, but it’s a steep hill and I wasn’t strong enough to stop it.

“It really broke my heart that we were trying to have a good day, and he was so excited to go to the park and we just ended up in a pothole.

“We just wanted to enjoy the day with all other the children.”

Liam has a number of medical issues

Liam has epilepsy, Down’s syndrome and has recently had heart surgery. He requires an oxygen tank and is immobile.

She said: “My son has epilepsy among other things – the last thing I wanted was for him to hit his head and have an epileptic fit.

“I was so, so mad – I was absolutely livid. It surely cannot take long to fix these holes.”

She immediately contacted the council, but the potholes have not yet been fixed.

Kevin Carrol, Ringway divisional manager, working on behalf of Hertfordshire County Council, said: "We are sorry to hear of this incident. 

"Dell Road in Watford was inspected recently and a couple of potholes that meet the County Council’s guidelines were identified for urgent repair. Works have been scheduled to repair these."