A dad-of-three was injured when his foot went through a plank of wood at Southport Pier.
Alan Murray was walking down the pier with his family on Friday, June 3 at around 1.30pm when his foot dropped through a piece of wood. The 74-year-old was walking along the seaside attraction with his daughter, Sarah, son, Joel, daughter-in-law, Maria, and three grandchildren, Sam, 11, Lily, 10, and Ruairi, four.
The family had decided to go for a walk on the bank holiday, Alan's daughter Sarah told the ECHO about how her dad, a "usually fit and brave man", hurt his leg and is reluctant to walk along the pier again.
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The 40-year-old said: "We had family visiting from Bristol, my older brother and his family, and we went walking on the pier. As we were walking along my dad suddenly just fell to the ground. We thought he'd collapsed, we didn't know what had happened, but his leg had gone through one of the planks.
"As he stood on it the plank gave way and his leg went through the gap up to his thigh. Underneath the pier, it's like a 30ft drop.
"We managed to get him out of the hole and he had red marks all up his leg. He then went into the toilets at the end of the pier to check and part of his leg was all bruised and grazed. I think they call it a piermaster or something, so he came along on a little scooter and he put a metal sheet over the bit that had broken and we've also reported it to Sefton Council.
"As we were then walking back we were so worried about walking on the pier. There are loads of other planks that look like they're about to go and loads other loose ones as well."
Alan, a former secondary school English teacher, is used to going on walks and spending his spare time doing activities. Sarah said: "He's a really active person at 74 and he likes to go cycling and walking but now he can't really do anything because he's still in pain with his leg. He's said he's going to try and avoid the pier if he can."
A Sefton Council spokesperson said: “We can confirm we have been contacted by a member of the public about an incident that took place on the pier. Last month’s full Council meeting, approved over £200,000 for maintenance work that will start this month.”
It was agreed last month that the pier would have £200,000 spent on maintenance work, with the report into the pier saying: "The decking is rotting from within meaning it is only detected when a timber piece snaps. The Council employed a specialist timber expert who devised a programme of works and the specification of timber."
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