A woman who tripped on an uneven paving stone and “smashed her foot to smithereens” is locked in a battle with Kent County Council over the fall.

Chrissie Hosie of Bells Lane, Tenterden, spent months in hospital after hitting the ground in Tenterden High Street and is still unable to stand for long periods of time.

The nursing team member at Benenden Hospital’s eye unit faced two operations and life-threatening blood clots on her lungs after falling over a low, uneven paving slab in the town.

“I caught my left foot and it twisted 90 degrees,” said the mum of two grown up children.

“I could hear my bones breaking and when I began blacking out my right knee cap hit the pavement as I fell on it.”

As well as damaging her knee cap she ripped tendons in her right leg and broke three teeth in the fall.

The Bells Lane, Tenterden resident was taken by ambulance to William Harvey hospital in Ashford where her left foot was operated on that night.

She said the damage to her foot was so extensive that surgeons described it as being “smashed to smithereens”. She had also broken two bones in her left leg.

A second operation took place on her foot just over a week later.

Mrs Hosie was left with a full length cast on her right leg, while her left leg was covered in a cast from her foot to knee.

In November she developed multiple blood clots on both lungs, which she claims was a complication of having the operations and being inmobilised for so long.

“It’s been a complete nightmare...” Chrissie Hosie

She spent months in hospital after the fall, before transferred to Brabourne Care Centre in Hythe Road, Ashford, finally being allowed home just a few days before Christmas.

The mum, who has been forced off work since the fall on August 30, is pursing a case against the authority.

“It’s been a complete nightmare,” said Chrissie. “I’ve been in so much pain and discomfort and I thought I was going to die when I had the blood clots on my lungs.

"I couldn’t speak or breathe properly.”

Chrissie is blaming KCC for the tumble and says the gap between the uneven paving stones was unacceptable at 22 millimetres.

Her husband took a measurement of the pavement defect.

Still reliant on a crutch, Chrissie says that doctors think it may take her a full year to recover from her injuries and the former NHS worker says she cannot afford to be off sick for so long, adding: “I love my job and I just want to get back to work.”

A Kent County Council spokesman said: “We are very concerned to hear about Mrs Hosie’s injuries and we wish her a full and swift recovery.

“We regularly inspect our pavements and fix safety hazards promptly.

“If anyone spots a problem on our roads or pavements we encourage them to report the issue to us directly via Kent.gov.uk so we can send someone to inspect the issue.

“Any hazards that are found and require fixing will be programmed in.”