Legal issues in our particular case

The wheels of the law move exceedingly slowly but infinitely finely, or so I had always imagined. Imagination, I came to find, was a poor bedfellow with the actual truth unless you are unfortunate enough to be a victim of a fatal accident.

Two officers of the law attended the scene of my wife's accident. One made himself known to me extremely briefly. I was suffering from extreme shock. My wife lay bleeding on the road and two ambulances were standing by. The car driver, who claimed he could not speak English, had stopped but impassively observed the scene without any explanation or apology.

Frankly, the last thing I worried about then was whether the law would help our case later when it came to rightful compensation and punishment of any potential driving offences. Here I came a bit unstuck and it would be helpful if other members of the public were made aware of a few facts.

1. Unless the accident is fatal, do not expect the officer attending to take anything other than brief notes of the bare essentials such as names and addresses, car registration details, witnesses and a visual inspection of vehicles involved.
2. No measurements of where the body landed, how far from the road, where the vehicle struck the pedestrian or where any vehicles finish up are taken.
3. No photographic evidence is taken.
4. The car is not impounded. No experts are called in for advice.
5. Car drivers will not have statements taken off them if they do not speak English.
6. Without any of the above vital evidence being taken, it is unlikely without witnesses that any driving offence will be prosecuted. Without this, any civil claim for compensation will be very difficult to succeed.
7. Experience of the officer in road traffic accidents is paramount. Here I was lucky and feel that even visual inspection would stand me in good stead when others examined the circumstances.
8. It is almost impossible to speak to the officer attending after the incident and it take some considerable time to even give a statement of the facts.
9. Solicitors following up the event can have extreme difficulty tracing notes of the accident with the constabulary, even with concise details.
10. Luckily, I at least paced out some measurements and retrieved articles my wife had dropped at the point of impact whilst my wife was being examined in the ambulance and came back the next day to measure up more precisely. Otherwise, there would be no data on the scene at all.

Less in the way of support than what you would imagine? Tell me about it!

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Home recovery without any hospital support

Getting back to normal was harder than I had imagined. Little things like getting out of bed were extremely difficult and very painful, then even lying in bed was painful too as my coccyx was getting so painful Henry had to call my doctor for additional pain relief. He was horrified to find that over a week after being discharged the LGI had not supplied our surgery with any notes at all! (And still had not a month after discharge despite several requests from my GP.)

We tried to get some help from physiotherapists, but the hospital washed their hands of us saying no good - we were now discharged and the doctor said he still had not got any notes and was getting very frustrated at the lack of communication from the LGI.

However, my optimism kept me going and eventually being able to get my hair washed was so marvellous I could cry! We also attempted sitting outside in my wheelchair in the sun but this was very difficult as the chair supplied was too wide for the doors!!! Henry resorted to eBay and the Red Cross before we could sort this out.

Again, my marvellous friends kept me going. Liz Netto called and autographed the pot on my left hand! Anything to take your mind of the painfully obvious - I was confined to bed and wheelchair, could not walk or have a bath and had missed the chistening and cancelled my holiday. Many thanks you half asleep car driver.

Back home at last

At last, hospital procedures were inching slowly to getting me home when Henry could actually be there after a great deal of communication and eventually refusual to go anywhere until all the equipment necessary for my extended period at home due to lack of hospital beds was ready.


I was nowhere near recovered of course. I had been given only one brief try with a wheelchair and more with a walking frame which gave me considerable pain in the pelvic area. I could only move around with difficulty, gritting my teeth and hoping to Hell that the movement was not opening up the two fractures in my pelvis. Communication with doctors in the LGI had been extremely difficult and only extreme insistence by Henry got me any idea at all what my prognosis was. We had hoped that the horrendous starvation diet due we heard to lack of surgeons which was causing several days back up with operations and patients not knowing from one day to the next was just an unfortunate experience. However, it seemed that despite lengthy morning meetings, nursing staff too were completely unable to answer any queries other than basic care in the ward and most had to be reminded of the current medical state by us whenever new staff came on.

So relief at leaving was considerable. Good people but terrible hospital procedures and lack of proper communication both between staff and with the patient will haunt my memories.

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Release from being a prisoner in the LGI

Happy Day! Release from prison, or so it seemed, was in sight. The staff and fellow patients at the LGI were lovely, but poor sleep caused by patients in the Othapeadic Trauma Ward and strict confinement to bed and chair were beginning to wear me down.

At last, I could put both this memory and the experience of a forced "Nil by Mouth" fast for over 36 hours whilst being told time and time again that my operation was on, then off when I was first admitted to the LGI behind me and return to the outside world, albeit on a wheelchair.

Henry arrived with my wheelchair, which due to a cock-up in red tape could not be delivered to hospital. It actually had to be sent to our home then he had to struggle to bring it in. What nonsense. I had a brief practice in it before being wheeled back to the ward. Tomorrow they are taking me home!!!

Unbeknown by me, Henry had been hard at work at home with help from daughters Penny and Carolyn and my son James. The dining room downstairs had been converted to a bedroom with hanging rail, commode and dressing table and the Council had been in to raise the chair and bed and supply a commode and walking frame.

Many of my closer friends and family had visited me in hospital and sent me flowers and many Get Well Cards.

On the way in to see me for the last time, Henry brought a poster on the Lady Boys of Bangkok Show due to visit Millenium Square shortly. He was keen to go! However, he felt a bit guilty about leaving me at home on the first day of my return and gave up the idea. Ho ho.

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My 60th Birthday Extravaganza - Part 1 - Calamity!

Oh dear! Knocked down by a car in Chapel Allerton, Leeds just 6 weeks before my birthday and a week after my eye operation at Optical Express! Many of my friends were a little uncomplimentary about eye surgery improving my eyesight when, despite looking carefully, I did not see the light blue Nissan that knocked me over. Cheeky devils! My eyesight actually was considerably improved!

Luckily, I can remember little about the impact and even less of the undignified 30 meter airborn travel during which my pelvis was struck by the front bumper and upper front of my head caved in the windscreen of the car on the drivers side. All I could remember was being more than half way across the road after checking all was clear and then thankfully, no more.

My poor husband Henry Root, received a call from the ambulance driver telling him that his wife had been involved in an accident, "but she is still conscious."

Words he was to remember much later when trying to rationialise the incident and consider that she could easily have been killed. I wonder what the words would have been if the outcome had been more serious. I guess that ambulance drivers are quite used to this. He was not.

My first setback in hospital was to accept that I would be unable to attend the christening of my twin grandchildren, Jessica and Mollie, where I was due to be Godmother. Communication difficulties in the LGI lead me to hope they might release me and later I optimistically believed that the christening could be cancelled, but no. This was not to be and even seeing the video and photo's in hospital was of little consolation to me.

Nine days later after an operation on my fractured and dislocated thumb I left hospital on a wheelchair, banned from flying for 3 months due to my fractured pelvis, with a pot on my left hand and unable to weight-bear on my right leg. I felt pretty miserable but relieved that the fracture to my cheek was healing and being a naturally optimistic person, I never accepted that the accident would adversely affect my two planned 60th birthday celebrations. Unfortunately, we had to cancel our planned two week holiday in Goa with John and Kay, Henry's brother and sister in law which we were both looking forward to.

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Thank God for friends, both personal and many Hash House Harriers. I will miss our weekly running events with YH3 although many members have been to see me. See the link on the right for daily news items from HHH worldwide!

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