A MAN who tripped over a manhole cover and ended up in hospital for 12 days has said he feels “irritated and mad” that the county council won’t accept responsibility.

Mike Wood, 72, of Acredale Road, Carlisle was walking to catch the bus when he tripped over the manhole cover that was raised from the ground.

He explained: “I was going for the bus when I fell over the manhole cover.

“The last thing I remember is being flat on my face and two lads picking me up.”

Mr Wood hit his head, scraped his knees and elbows and broke his glasses.

“I came home and sat for about half an hour then we went to get my glasses sorted,” continued Mr Wood.

“Then the next week I started to get headaches. I had an appointment coming up at the stroke clinic so decided to wait until then for an appointment.

“I didn’t need to tell them there was something wrong: the doctor asked if I’d been having headaches and if I’d had a fall and sent me for a CT scan straight away.

“This showed I had a bleed on the brain because of the fall.”

Mr Wood was sent from Carlisle’s Cumberland Infirmary to Newcastle where he spent the next 12 days.

His wife, Shirley said: “He left the house to go to the stroke clinic and didn’t come home for 12 days.”

Mr Wood was assessed by a surgeon on arrival at the Newcastle hospital where he was taken off his medication to thin his blood in preparation for surgery to stop the bleed on his brain.

He needed to have the bleed drained and 18 staples in total, which resulted in a 12 day hospital stay.

“The first week the headaches were horrible but by the time I would have been able to get an appointment to see a doctor they would have just told me to take paracetamol which I was already doing,” added Mr Wood.

Since coming out of hospital Mr and Mrs Wood have complained to Cumbria County Council about the manhole cover, however, because it didn’t meet the required one inch, they were not entitled to any compensation.

Since complaining about the problem, the gap has been filled in and a letter was sent to the couple to let them know that repair work had taken place.

Mr Wood said: “I’m irritated and mad.

“I feel like I’m too honest.

“The council wouldn’t even compensate me for my broken glasses, I’m not asking for much.”

Like Mr Wood, Mrs Wood is infuriated by the situation.

She said: “They didn’t even say sorry. There was no empathy, nothing.”

The couple have since tried to involve solicitors in the case but have had no luck.

Mr Wood explained: “The first solicitor told me they couldn’t do it on a no win no fee basis.

“Another one told me they couldn’t help and a thing rang and told me they don’t take cases like this against the council because they very rarely win.”

A spokesman for Cumbria County Council explained: “There are no previous reports of any defects from members of the public for the area concerned, until it was reported on October 23, 2019, approximately six weeks after the incident.

“The manhole was subsequently repaired on October 25, 2019, in accordance with Cumbria County Council’s service procedures.”