Graham McGrath says he knows of four people who have tripped and fallen on the footpath. Photo / Bevan Conley
Graham McGrath says he knows of four people who have tripped and fallen on the footpath. Photo / Bevan Conley
A patch of footpath outside the Kōwhainui Retirement Village in Virginia Rd has caused multiple falls over the last couple of years, according to local residents.
Graham McGrath said a lot of older people, includingsome with walking sticks and frames, walked along it for exercise.
"The slabs of concrete don't quite meet at the same level," McGrath said.
"That doesn't mean there's a four-foot difference or anything, even a quarter of an inch is enough to trip an old person's foot."
Berneice Holmes lives down the road from McGrath in Edith Collier Drive.
Holmes said she didn't think it would take much to fix the problem.
Grinding the ledges down could be an option.
"I've seen it done in Waipukurau when I lived there, and Rangitīkei used to do it as well."
He and Holmes met with a Whanganui District Council representative at the site following her fall, McGrath said.
"The net result of the conversation was 'there are a hell of a lot of footpaths that are worse', including one just down the road.
"Within a couple of days the concrete people were fixing that one but they never touched ours - the one between Kōwhainui home and the drive that goes up to Hospice.
"Berneice is the fourth person I know who has gone flat on their face on the concrete. That's really not a fair go."