Seven years after tripping over a ‘defective’ path in Exmouth, a woman and her husband are continuing their fight to get the path repaired.  

In 2022, John Goldman contacted the Journal after feeling like he wasn't being listened to by the then MP Simon Jupp and officers at Devon County Council.

He says he still isn't being listened to by the authorities, and seven years since his wife fell over and injured herself on the pavement, it still hasn't been fixed.

The offending patch of pavement is in Douglas Avenue, Exmouth. John Goldman was out walking with his wife in October 2017, when she tripped and fell over a lump of tarmac. Christine broke her nose as well as sustaining other injuries. Five years on, she is still suffering with blackouts and headaches as a result of the injuries.  

Mr Goldman told the Journal in 2022, that a Devon County Council officer inspected the site and rejected the claim that the defect was a danger. They told him the defect was too big and didn’t therefore meet criteria.  

Since then, John and Christine have been lobbying Devon County Council, which are responsible for the road and pavement in Devon, to get the ‘defect’ repaired so others don’t fall over the same patch.  

John said: “We aren’t doing this for publicity or fame. All I want is the pavement fixed to make sure no one else injures themselves on the same patch my wife fell on. But since 2017 we haven’t really got any further to this and it feels like it has reached a dead end.  

“It's disgraceful, we all know that since covid, local council budgets are tight but members of the public deserve better than this and should be made aware of how the Council have treated us isn't fair.” 

In 2022, a Devon County Council spokesman said: "Douglas Avenue has recently been inspected and defects that met our Highway Safety Policy investigatory criteria have been actioned and repaired according to our policy. 

“This particular area of pavement does not meet our criteria for investigation or repair at this current time. We will continue to inspect this area on an annual basis. 

“Whilst all identified defects which exceed the intervention level in our Safety Inspection Policy will be assessed for repair, there are currently no proposed capital maintenance schemes planned for Douglas Avenue footways.”