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A 62-year-old was left with a lump on her head after a toilet roll holder in Cambridge city centre collapsed on her.

Vanessa Story from Chesterton got a bump to the head when the metal toilet tissue dispenser opened and fell on her.

The incident happened in the Fisher Square toilet facilities near Lion Yard shopping centre, which are owned by Cambridge City Council , on November 3.

Vanessa said: “It happened when I just leant forward slightly and the whole thing came crashing down on me.

“I let out a cry of pain and when I came out there was a woman looking concerned at me and asked if I was OK.

“I really wasn’t feeling well at all for quite a while and I think it gave me slight concussion.

“I just worry because if it had happened to a child or someone much older than me it could have really injured them."

(Image: Cambridge News)

Vanessa reported it immediately and received help from Lion Yard staff.

She was left feeling dizzy, nauseous and suffered a large lump to her head. Her symptoms continued for about a week afterwards.

The response to the accident

Although staff from Lion Yard helped directly after the incident occurred, the facilities are run by the council so the centre could not handle the issue any further.

Vanessa has been trying to contact the council but it took two weeks for her to receive a response.

After more than a week of trying to speak to someone from the council she was told to send a letter regarding her complaint, but was still not able to speak to anyone directly on the phone.

As Lion Yard is unable to deal with complaints regarding the toilets as it does not own them, the centre has since put up two signs in the toilets that instruct individuals to contact the council if they have any problems.

Manager of Lion Yard, Roger Allen, said: “The toilets in Lion Yard are actually Cambridge council property so there is very little that we can do in this situation, but we helped as best we could and supported Vanessa after the incident.

“It’s frustrating when the council don’t react quick enough. We have had issues with cleanliness before but never an accident like this.”

The council finally wrote a letter to Vanessa more than two weeks after the incident occurred.

The letter said the council had not received evidence that of the incident and so is currently unable to take action.

Staff from Lion Yard sent a picture of the broken toilet tissue holder after it happened and Vanessa tried to contact the council a number of times but could not get through.

A spokesman for Cambridge City Council said: “We are in communication with the complainant and are investigating the reported health and safety issue raised regarding a Lion Yard toilet roll holder.

“From our initial assessment of the holders, we could find no fault with their securing system.”