Sir,

I am writing this letter at 3.30am due to my inability to sleep as a result of an injury I sustained while falling down the Dead House steps on Saturday, October 29, at 7.30 am.

When I accidentally fell I injured my two upper arms, my left elbow, my nose and worst of all my left leg in three places. I still have a dressing on my left knee three weeks after the event. My left hip injury is my main concern and is what causes me my sleeplessness.

As a local resident for most of my life, I have walked down the Dead House steps many hundreds of times, so I was not expecting the steps’ surface to be so dangerous. With time, the steps have worn and now have the smoothness of a glass surface, made worse by any dampness or rain.

After my accident, I managed to limp up to Tudor Square where a very nice lady who was cleaning the ‘Qube Restaurant’ gave me some paper kitchen towel to stem the blood coming from my injured nose.

In this claim-driven society, I should have lay on my back at the bottom of the nine stone steps I fell down, and with my mobile phone called an ambulance, thus starting my claim for damages from the council. Instead, I limped to a friend’s home to get first aid.

On the following Monday, I called Pembrokeshire County Council to report the dangerous condition of the Dead House steps and was put through to a Mr. Simon Nichols who took details of the location of the steps. I also texted a series of photographs (I am a retired photographer) to him so that he was fully aware of the situation. What surprised me was that during my conversation with the telephone receptionist and Mr. Nicholas, not once did anyone ask if I was alright or as to what injuries I may have sustained due to the accident.

I am a retired pensioner and could have so easily suffered a life-changing or fatal injury as a result of this fall. I was lucky in that my face collided with the hand rail of the railings, or I could have easily ended up going over the top of the railings and down on to the harbour road near the Sea Cadet building with fatal results, as the cliffside bank is so steep at this point.

Now three weeks later, the situation at these very dangerous steep steps remains the same. When will PCC make the steps off limits to the public until the repairs are made? Will they wait until a fatal accident or a very serious injury or maybe a large insurance damages claim to get things moving!

In hindsight, I wish I had called an ambulance!

Darrell Davies,

Tenby.