A HOLIDAYMAKER in her 70s broke her nose after tripping over a high kerb outside a Weymouth pharmacy.

Staff at Lloyds Pharmacy in Gloucester Street helped treat Jane Rumming and called an ambulance after she stumbled.

Pharmacy staff and staff at the nearby Bridges Medical Centre have been calling for the kerb to be lowered for years, adding that people stumble and injure themselves there on a weekly basis.

Retired factory canteen manager Mrs Rumming, 73, of Midsomer Norton, Avon, was on holiday with her family when the accident happened.

She had gone to Lloyds to get a prescription for her granddaughter, who suffers from an allergy to cow’s milk.

She said: “I came out of the pharmacy and hesitated for a moment, wondering which way to go to get back to the car park.

“I checked for traffic and stepped out and caught my foot on the kerb and fell.

“It all happened so quickly – I had no chance to put my hand out to save myself, which is probably good because I would have broken my wrist. I felt my face hit the ground.

“I wear spectacles and the impact pushed them into the bridge of my nose and I’ve got a slit across my nose.

“I’ve got two bruised purple lines around my eyes.

“A young paramedic on a bike arrived very quickly and I was helped by passers-by.

“I realised my nose was flowing with blood.

“The paramedic said he thought my nose was broken but there wasn’t much that could be done about it.

“When I woke up the next day I needed a crowbar to get me out of bed.

“I suffer from arthritis anyway but now I’m covered in bruises.”

She added: “Something certainly needs to be done about that kerb.

“It could catch anyone out – I’m pretty nimble normally but it caught me.”

Jan Rigby, who has worked at Lloyds for six years and is a qualified first aider, said: “This poor woman broke her nose and had her glasses embedded in her nose after she fell on this kerb.

“We had to have an ambulance here for two hours to treat her until she stopped bleeding.

“This keeps on happening and we’ve been trying to get this kerb lowered for years.”

A Dorset County Council spokesman said: “We are sorry to hear of this incident and wish the lady a speedy recovery.

“We believe that the issue was previously brought to the attention of Weymouth and Portland Borough Council but that it did not meet the criteria for improvements.

“The county council took responsibility for highways in the borough in April and all of our roads are subject to routine inspections for safety defects.

“We understand the kerb is high due to the level of the car park but that it is lowered at either end allowing points to cross.

“We will carry out an inspection of the kerb to see whether they are any defects that require repair.”

Staff at Lloyds Pharmacy have warned before about the ‘dangerous’ kerb outside their store in Gloucester Street.

The Dorset Echo reported in July 2007 that people were regularly tripping over the kerb and that pharmacy staff were calling on the council to make the pavement safer.

Pharmacy shop assistant and former health care worker Beverley Dunn told the Echo that she and her colleagues were treating customers for sprains and cuts every week.

Jan Rigby estimated that she had treated around 40 people for injuries suffered after tripping on the kerb in her first three years working at the store.

At the time, Weymouth and Portland Borough Council brief holder for transport and infrastructure, Coun Christine James, said there is ‘no prescribed height’ for kerbs as it depends on the ‘level of the ground’ either side. She also said that a council officer was called out to the area to inspect the kerb but he found no defects, such as potholes, that could be causing people to fall.