By Paul Cassell

A WOKINGHAM mum says the district council could have prevented her toddler from fracturing his leg in a pothole by repairing the road when the problem was reported.

Angeline Clark, 32, says she put 19-month-old Jimmy down for less than five minutes when he stumbled and fell into the three-foot wide hole near the family’s mobile home on Carters Hill Caravan Park near Billingbear.

She claimed that Wokingham District Council knew about a number of potholes in the road for months, but failed to repair them.

But the council said it had only been aware of the problem for three weeks, and immediately sprung into action to repair the road after the Wokingham Times took up her case.

Miss Clark said: “I was chatting with a friend outside and just put him on the ground when he tripped.

“He was in pain and wasn’t able to put his foot down or walk and screamed when he did. I thought he had just sprained and bruised his ankle.”

Jimmy was taken to Heatherwood Hospital in Ascot but it did not have the facilities to X-ray children under five, and he was transferred to the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading.

Miss Clark said: “They said it wasn’t broken but when I returned him to the fracture clinic for a check-up and he was X-rayed again they told me it was broken.”

The track where Miss Clark said Jimmy fell, on Tuesday, April 13, has several large potholes which site residents claim the council has been slow to repair.

Miss Clark said: “I think they should have come here and sorted it out before this happened.

“I do not want to sue them but would like something to be done. But if they will not do anything I will take it further.

“There are about 10 young children on this site and I do not want to see anything like this happen to them.”

The potholes are just one of the problems on the site which site tenants say is making their lives a misery.

Complaints range from increasing levels of rubbish and rats on the site to claims that the water supply is dirty and gritty and that water even comes back up through blocked drains.

Miss Clark said: “It’s disgusting — we’ve asked the council to come up and take away the rubbish and sort out the drains but they’ve done nothing.

“They are very quick when it comes to sending a letter when they want their rent and tax, but we never get anything back for our money.

“It’s got worse more than it’s got better. This no way for anyone to live — it’s like living in a Third World country.

“I know we are gypsies but they shouldn’t treat us any differently to anyone else.”

Wokingham District Council began work filling the potholes around the park on Monday and confirmed that rubbish will be cleared and drainage will be repaired soon.

Cllr Annette Drake, who represents Hurst ward, admitted she was unaware of the problems faced by tenants on the caravan park.

She said: “I have been up to the estate and was surprised how well the tenants had kept the site, but there was rubbish left by previous tenants and the toilet block had been damaged, and there were a number of potholes in the road.

“Of course, the real tragedy here is a child has fractured his leg and I am sorry that this has happened, and I will do whatever is necessary to ensure these matters are looked into even more so in the future.”