AN UNGRITTED path left a woman with a broken wrist in two places – and she is blaming the council.

Lavinia Ireson, 60, of Boundary Close, Upper Stratton, was walking along Victoria Road in Old Town on Friday, January 9, during the cold snap and assumed that the pavement had been treated.

She slipped and has two fractures, which will now take at least six weeks to heal.

Now Mrs Ireson is considering taking legal action against the authority.

She said: “I want to show them I wouldn’t be suffering if it wasn’t for them. I was in a lot of pain at the time.”

The council says it gritted large parts of the borough by machine and by hand and that empty saltboxes were refilled where requested.

Mrs Ireson was not the only person who suffered on that day, with the Advertiser receiving several reports of people slipping on Bath Road. At the Great Western Hospital she met other people who had similar falls.

She said: “There were an awful lot of people who had fallen.

“There’s an awful lot of places that weren’t gritted.”

Mrs Ireson was walking down Victoria Road at around 8.30am and the accident happened as she reached the junction with Stanley Street.

At the time she was unaware that her injuries were so serious and it was only when her husband took her to casualty that she was informed her wrist was broken in two places.

“Now I have got to keep it upright all the time, if I don’t it might not heal properly,” she said.

“It’s just as well I’m retired but it will take a long time to heal. The council’s supposed to provide a service.

“They can’t do everywhere, but where people walk it should be gritted as far as I’m concerned.

“It doesn’t cost that much to cover the roads in grit.”

A spokeswoman for Swindon Council said: “We cannot comment on individual cases for legal reasons.

“Like all councils, we are unable to grit all roads and footpaths during icy conditions. Last week we carried out significant salting operations on priority routes and also bus routes throughout the borough.

“Various shopping areas and footbridges were also salted by hand, along with footpaths and streets on hilly areas which cannot be accessed by gritter lorries.

“On request by residents, salt boxes in these areas were also refilled.”