Janet Faal suffered a fractured leg in the fall (Picture: SWNS)

A grandmother who has only been outside three times in the last 10 years suffered a setback when she fell down a manhole.

Janet Faal (pronounced like fall), 57, has agoraphobia and has only recently started going out again.

But when she moved a pallet to help her friend reverse she stepped into the open manhole, doing the splits as she fell down the shaft.

She was left with facial injuries and a suspected fractured leg. But worse than all that, she now believes she’s been set back years in her battle with agoraphobia.


The broken manhole cover down which she fell (Picture: SWNS)

She said: ‘I was with a friend – it’s hard for me to go anywhere, but I was getting better. Now I’m not so sure.



‘I was helping her reverse out of a car park, and there was this wooden pallet in the way.

‘I moved the pallet and took a step over – never in my life did I think there was a hole underneath, I thought it had just fallen over.

‘The next thing I remember is the pain. It was awful.’

Janet believes the fall has knocked her agoraphobia has knocked her back years (Picture: SWNS)

Her son Andy MacDonald said: ‘It’s ruined my mother’s recovery. I can’t believe it.’

They’re now trying to get the owners of the land in Crawley, West Sussex,to replace the manhole cover.