Fracture leaves 41-year-old off work and out of pocket Road fears after teacher breaks ankle in pothole

As thousands of revellers enjoyed a festive Saturday night out in Canterbury, reporter Jack Dyson joined those with the unenviable task of keeping the city’s streets trouble-free after dark...

A supply teacher has been left out of work and out of pocket after breaking her ankle tripping in a pothole.

Emma Hey had been walking home from the railway station along Cockering Road in Chartham with her partner Ben Holt last Tuesday evening when she stepped in the crater and fell to the ground.

The 41-year-old, who lives in Hillside Place, says she lay in the road as cars sped past while Mr Holt tried desperately to move her to safety.

“It was dark but we had a torch and we were walking facing oncoming traffic in single file,” she said.

“All of a sudden I hit a pothole and my foot went from under me.

“I just went down flat, nearly on my face, and fell into the road.”

She says except for two drivers who stopped to see if she was OK, others just sped past.

“If Ben wasn’t there to wave down traffic I don’t think anyone would have seen me,” she said.

“I don’t like to think what would have happened if I’d been on my own.”

Art teacher Ms Hey, who must wear a supportive boot for up to eight weeks, says she was due to work at a school the next day as a supply teacher, but had to cancel due to her injury.

“I don’t get any income if I’m not at work,” she said.

“I’m also doing an occupational therapist course which involves a placement.

“I can’t do this placement now and instead have to wait to do it. It means I’m going to go three months without earnings.”

Ms Hey says the potholes need to be filled, but the damaged 60mph road is not the only issue.

“The speed limit needs to be reduced to 30mph or 40mph and there needs to be some sort of calming measures,” she said.

“It was scary laying there with cars going past so fast.

“They always speed along there, even though they’re coming into a village.

“The parish council was trying to get something done but apparently we have to wait for a fatality before anything happens.

“It just seems ridiculous that Kent Highways will wait for someone to die before something is done.”

Kent County Council spokes- man Thom Morris says officers visited Cockering Road after receiving the report from Ms Hey. We have ordered the two potholes found for repair and this will be done shortly,” he said.

Mr Morris says in relation to speeding concerns, the authority has to make “tough decisions” on where to make changes to roads across Kent.

“KCC has to prioritise its remedial works where specific mitigating schemes have been identified to solve a particular road safety matter,” he said.

“We’re happy to consider all requests as long as residents go through the steps outlined on www.kent.gov.uk/highways.”

n What do you think? Email kentishgazette@thekmgroup. co.uk.

It’s Christmas party season. The streets are lined with men wearing eye- wateringly tight jeans and festive jumpers, and women hobbling along in sky-high heels.

The faint aroma of cigarettes drifts through the air and the noise of drunken revellers grows with each second.

It’s a busy Saturday night and I’m out in the city centre with Oli Nonis, Lee Flisher and Dan Musad.

The three are from Akon Security, which provides doormen for many of Canterbury’s nightspots.

They tell me about the unforgiving nature of their job. Oli and Lee have both been bottled – the latter has a pronounced scar on his lower lip from an attack. He has also been threatened at knifepoint, while Oli has been set upon by groups of people in the past. “If anyone says that they don’t get scared, they’re lying,” Lee says. “You’re always on your toes.”

Dan, who moved to Britain from Romania 11 years ago, says xenophobic abuse is frequently hurled his way.

“When you try to explain to people why they can’t enter a club, that’s when they start to get abusive,” says the 34-year-old. “I’ve had all sorts of stuff said to me – ‘go back to your own country’ and ‘you’re not even English’ – but it doesn’t affect me. If you let everything get to you in this job, it’ll get you down.

“Whenever someone says these types of things to me, I say ‘tell me something I don’t know’. I think people are getting worse and worse in terms of behaviour. It seems to be getting easier for them to get their hands on drugs.”

Oli, who runs the security company, says many of his doormen encounter similar kinds of prejudice. “The racism is crazy – it’s never changed,” he tells me. “People try to find something to get a reaction out of you to get you into trouble. You have to be thick-skinned.”

As we set out on our rounds from Orange Street at just after 8.30pm on Saturday night, Oli is hopeful of a peaceful evening.

“I expect it to be busy, though,” he adds. “At this time of year, you get larger groups going out. The potential for trouble is a lot higher. We’ve got more than 70 staff working tonight.”

For the next three hours, I follow them as they walk between the Ballroom in Orange Street and The Pound in Pound Lane, monitoring the behaviour of those entering the bars.

Even when they are deep in conversation, their eyes dart up and down the streets checking for signs of trouble.

“Watch this lot,” Oli says to me, nodding towards a group of six men rowdily making their way towards the Ballroom. One of the men throws a bottle at the

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