A woman has blamed poor council maintenance after she fell on a brick that was covering a broken paving stone.

Patricia Morgan, 63, said she fell on the pavement on Market Street, Watford, on Good Friday, because a hole in the pavement was being covered by a brick.

The Bushey woman, who had two hip replacements in 2016, said she was beginning to feel like “a new woman” before the fall set her back six weeks.

She said: “I was afraid to move as people crowded around me but I was so upset at the thoughts of breaking anything.

“I ended up too upset to go to A&E or even for a coffee with some witnesses, but did go to urgent care to ensure that nothing was broken, and luckily enough I was just badly bruised and upset.”

Ms Morgan told the Observer that witnesses who helped her at the scene said they would speak to the council, with one person saying they have been complaining for the last month about the brick.

She added: “You can imagine my shock when I tripped on this pavement. I put the whole blame on the council.

“It has put me right back to about a month or six weeks and I am frightened to walk very far.”

Kevin Carrol, Ringway Divisional Manager, working on behalf of Hertfordshire County Council, said: “We are sorry to hear about this Patricia Morgan’s accident and wish her a speedy recovery.

“We had not received any reports about the pavement outside the Flower Drum restaurant in Market Street being damaged until yesterday (4 May). The location will be inspected in the next five days to assess what repairs are necessary.

“We would encourage people to report damage to pavements via our fault reporting system at: www.hertfordshire.gov.uk/faultreporting”