A HAMPSHIRE grandmother of three says she will take legal action against the council after a crashing her bike on a ‘bumpy’ piece of road in Southampton.

Kay Russell was flung off her bike when she was cycling near Guildhall Square in Above Bar Street.

Now the 65-year-old from Ocean Village is calling for urgent action to be taken on the piece of road and pavement she described as a “death trap”.

Mrs Russell said her bike hit a lifted kerb which caught her wheel and then she was flung off her bike, and avoided serious injury as her fall was cushioned by her head hitting the basket of her bike, while her leg was trapped under her bike.

She suffered cuts and bruises to her arm and leg and was prescribed painkillers by doctors at Royal South Hants.

Mrs Russell said: “I thought I had broken both my wrists I was in complete shock.

“Luckily staff at Turtle Bay and onlookers quickly came to my aid and helped me and I can’t thank them enough.”

“It could have been fatal and sometimes I have my grandchildren sat on the back seat of my bike, and I cannot bear to think what would have happened if one of them was on it.”

"The road has been lethal to my knowledge for two years now and I am always extra careful when cycling there.

The crash has affected her confidence whilst cycling. Mrs Russell, added: "I have lost awful lot of confidence because of it. Now all I am looking at when cycling is the road all the time to see if I am going to hit a pothole or a curb and if you are just looking at the road its harder to see other hazards around me like vehicles."

The road was part of the £4.6million revamp of Guildhall Square that scooped design awards after being completed in 2010.

But just 18 months after it was completed, large parts of the road began to fall away, leaving its surface uneven and bumpy to drive over.

It comes after Southampton Itchen MP, Royston Smith, who was leader of the council when Guildhall Square was completed, called for urgent action to prevent the road getting any worse back in April last year.

He has again called on council chiefs to make sorting out the road a priority. Royston, said: “I am not in the least surprised this has happened. I have told them about this now for years and they have allowed that to become the worst road in the city while being the most expensive road in the city. They have done nothing about it.

“The council have a responsibility to keep the road safe. If they want to argue that the contractor is responsible amongst themselves then my advice is fix the road and then get the firm to repay the cost.”

John Harvey, Highways Manager Southampton City Council John Harvey, said: “We are currently designing a scheme to resolve this matter. Once the first phase of the Arts Complex construction is completed, we anticipate having the area completely repaired, later this year. ”

However he did not state why the road had taken so long to be repaired.