Whakatāne woman Sandy Harte would like to see the council repair dangerous sections of the town’s footpaths after she took a nasty fall on a sunken tile this week.

Mrs Harte, 84, was walking along The Strand on Tuesday, as she does often, when she went to cross the road from outside Poppy’s Cafe, towards Paper Plus.

“But I didn’t get there. The next thing I find myself flat on my face on the pavement,” she said.

“My foot caught on an uneven piece of the footpath.”

Her blood still marks the pavment where she fell.

Mrs Harte spent a night in hospital getting a full check over. By Wednesday she was still sporting two black eyes, but she said the swelling had subsided significantly.

“My face was a lot worse than it’s looking now – and it doesn’t look very beautiful now.”

She counts herself lucky that her injuries were not worse, but she worries that others could be more severely injured if they have a similar fall.

Multiple people rushed to Mrs Harte’s aid, including cafe patrons and its owner, who brought her some ice to hold to her face.

“Whakatāne people are just absolutely fabulous,” she said of the help.

The pavers that caused Mrs Harte to fall were repaired and relevelled by Whakatāne District Council contractors yesterday morning, after the issue was reported to them by The Beacon.

It's not the first time Mrs Harte has had a fall while in town, and she heard from multiple people in hospital who had similar experiences.

“It’s dangerous. I’m not the first one who’s done this. While I was at the hospital, a lady came up to me and said, ‘I’ve done that.’

“The thing is that we don’t have to put up with that.”

Mrs Harte said she did not complain to the council about the problematic section of footpath on The Strand because she did not want to be brushed off, like she felt she had been previously.

On another occasion, she tripped on the path on Orourke Place but managed to keep her balance.

“I went to the council, and I said the footpaths are so uneven they’re dangerous. They said to walk on the other side of the road.

“Why tell me to walk on the other side of the road when they can fix the one that I walk on all the time?”

Mrs Harte said while it was all well and good to see the council beautifying the town, she would like to see money go towards making sure it was also safe for residents.

“It’s all very well to say, ‘Lift your feet Sandy,’ but come on. I'm 84 years of age and I can walk the streets as much as I like. I’m stable and I have no medical problems, but I just went flat on my face.

“I want something done about it.”

In Mrs Harte’s ideal world, the footpaths would be continuous, like tarseal on the road, so pavers could not lift or sink.

While walking with The Beacon from Pyne Street back to The Strand where she fell, Mrs Harte noted areas that she considered to be up to scratch, and others that could do with some work.

She said the pavers outside Tomorrow Store were laid beautifully, but they got to be a little lumpy and bumpy on Boon Street outside the public toilets.

Whakatāne District Council manager of transportation Ann-Elise Reynolds said repairs like the one on The Strand yesterday fell within the council’s reactive maintenance programme, which was funded through the 2024-2027 period.

“Footpaths across the district are inspected every three years, in line with guidance from Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency. In between scheduled inspections, the council relies on reports from the public to help identify and respond to hazards.

“If residents are ever concerned about any hazards in our district, they should contact our customer services team on 07 306 0500 (available 24/7), or for non-urgent issues email [email protected], or fill out the Fix it Form at whakatane.govt.nz/contact-us/fix-it-and-report-problem.”