Brave Karen to ride Wagner Way
PEOPLE can now get face-to-face advice if they have a major complaint against an energy supplier or a phone company.
An Ombudsman Services roadshow will be in Huddersfield town centre tomorrow and Friday on the Macaulay Street precinct near the bus station.
Staff will be on hand to help you register your complaint from 9am until 5pm. Their free, impartial service can help resolve complaints quickly and fairly when a supplier has been unable to resolve them.
To register a complaint make sure you bring the correct documents along to the event. You will need any correspondence you may have had with your supplier about an issue, your account number and a copy of the bill, if this is what you are disputing.
Only 116 energy and communications complaints were brought to Ombudsman Services by Huddersfield people in 2016, meaning many aren’t getting the compensation or apology they deserve.
Chief ombudsman Lewis Shand Smith said: “It’s important that residents in Huddersfield know their consumer rights and don’t put up with bad service. Complaining should be an easy, hasslefree experience – if you’re still in a dispute with a company after eight weeks, Ombudsman Services can look into the case for free and provide a resolution.”
For more information visit: www.ombudsmanservices.org/consumer-roadshow or call 0330 041 2207. Karen is battling back after suffering serious brain injuries in a freak fall and can currently walk only short distances with a stick A WOMAN who suffered serious brain injuries after a freak fall is taking part in Huddersfield Town’s Pedal4Pounds – a marathon charity cycling event to raise money for the air ambulance service that saved her life.
Karen Brooke was a keen cyclist before the devastating accident two years ago when she slipped on ice outside her Elland home. She was leading her horse which, startled at her fall, kicked out and hit Karen on the side of her head.
Now the life-long Huddersfield Town supporter is taking part in the eighth annual Pedal4Pounds from May 2 to 6 – a 260-mile charity bike ride on the “Wagner Way” from Dortmund in Germany to Huddersfield.
Karen, who can walk only short distances with a stick, hopes to complete between 20 and 30 miles of the route each day on a tandem provided by Milnsbridge-based community cycling project StreetBikes – which will also provide co-riders for her throughout the journey.
Karen is training by riding her home static bike very day, riding with StreetBikes every week at Spenborough running track and taking regular physiotherapy and swimming sessions.
Karen said: “Before the accident, I did a couple of the previous Pedal4Pounds events and my brother did it last year. I wanted to take part to raise money for the Yorkshire Air Ambulance (YAA) and to give myself a challenge. It is very hard, but I will do it.”
Within minutes of her accident, Karen, 51, was airlifted to Leeds General Infirmary. She suffered two skull fractures and severe bruising and bleeding on the brain.
“I was lucky to survive,” said Karen. “I had only a slight pulse when Yorkshire Air Ambulance landed and I don’t think I would have made it without them. They saved my life.”
Karen was in a coma for two months and initially suffered personality changes as well as paralysis down her right side. She spent four months in rehabilitation at Dewsbury District Hospital learning how to walk, talk, read and write again.
She was discharged to her specially-adapted home next door to parents Kath and David and required visits from home carers four times a day.
She said: “I am very determined and, with lots of support from my family I have made myself get better so I can do things myself.”
Pedal4Pounds is part of the Keep It Up Campaign between Town and YAA which has raised more than £1.4m since its launch in 2009 for Town’s academy and YAA.