A WOMAN who fell down a two foot hole is furious after her journey to the shops ended in hours of hospital treatment.

Andrea Mitchell, 43, was taking a short cut across a much-used patch of grass opposite the Winston Churchill pub on her way from The Broadway, Debden, to her home in Barfields when she fell.

“I was cutting across the grass with my shopping and I ended up with one leg two foot down a hole,” she said.

“I was walking along and suddenly my foot goes down. It was not very nice.

“It was grassed over, although people had been mowing it that morning.”

She was taken to Whipps Cross hospital in Leytonstone by paramedics after the fall on Friday and was kept there for five hours having x-rays on her leg.

“I fractured my hip recently,” she said. “Something had come off my hip that I’d had replaced.

“I have an appointment at the doctor’s again today.

“I’ve been in severe pain with my back because I jarred it when I fell and I suffer from osteoarthritis in my spine.”

She said the route was used regularly by people walking from The Broadway towards Colson Road and paramedics reported it to Epping Forest District Council.

“I will be taking some kind of action with the council if it’s not filled in,” she added. “So many people walked past and said it had been there for ages.

“The ambulance man couldn’t believe it and put his own leg down.

“It was reported to the council on Friday and I will be absolutely disgusted if something’s not done.

“Everybody uses that as a cut-through. If (the hole) used for drainage, there should be a drain cover across it and if not, it won’t cost them much to fill it in with a bag of sand.”

The Guardian has asked the district council to comment.

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