Pregnant mum who fell down hole in pavement in Manchester wins damages

Granada Reports journalist Anna Youssef spoke to Selma Abdalla about the incident.

A mother has been awarded damages after falling down a hole in the pavement whilst pregnant - nearly causing her to lose her unborn child.

Selma Abdalla from Manchester, was 30 weeks pregnant when her leg plunged through a plastic cover on the ground, which was part of works being carried on the pavement near her home in Ardwick.

The 45-year-old was rushed to hospital but 72 hours later had to have an emergency C-section.

"My tummy actually hit the ground," said Selma. "I thought I'm going to lose my baby and I thought there's something happening to me as well because at the time I couldn't feel my leg and on top of that the pain from my tummy as well.

"It was so terrifying. I was so scared and I felt disorientated, I didn't know what happened."

Selma had to be pulled out of the hole by members of the public.

She says she had to watch her newborn cling to life inside an incubator following her emergency C-section just three days after her accident.

“I remember people pulling me out and I started getting pains in my stomach a few minutes later.

"At that point I knew that my unborn baby was in danger, and I thought I was going into labour.”

The fall, which happened on 15 July 2019, on Langport Avenue in Ardwick, resulted in injury to Mrs Abdalla’s leg but also trauma to her lower abdomen and back.

Weighing just 1.5kg, her daughter Yomna was born seven weeks early and had to spend nine weeks in a special baby care unit, needing a machine to breathe.

With Yomna’s survival uncertain due to heart defects and potential brain injuries, Mrs Abdalla was forced to navigate caring for her baby, who she couldn’t hold for weeks, while also attending to her own health issues.

She added: “I remember the doctors saying they needed to operate, and I wasn’t ready at all, but it was a race against time because I couldn’t feel her kicking anymore.

"I thought my child was going to die.

“She was so tiny, she fit in my hand and weighed about the same as a small bag of flour.

"The hardest thing was straight after the procedure, they had to take her away so I couldn’t even see her and a few days later, I had to go home without my baby, which for a mother, is the hardest thing in the world.

“I came to see her every day and because she wasn’t allowed out of the incubator, I would put a blanket over it and lay her new clothes next to the enclosure.

"It was really hard, but when she finally came home, it was the best feeling in the world. She’s a miracle baby.”

Yomna is now four-years-old and living a normal life with no health issues.

But after the birth, Mrs Abdalla said her recovery at home took longer than expected and she needed help for days with basic things such as getting in and out of bed and taking showers.

Barriers were put up at the site the day after her fall, but it has taken four years to secure an out-of-court settlement of £6,500 with the construction company involved.

“I’m so relieved that Yomna is fit and well, but things could have been a lot different,” says Selma.

"The lack of regard for people's safety has caused me to suffer physically and emotionally, my baby could have died. This I cannot forgive."

Amina Ali from Veritas Solicitors, who represented Mrs Abdalla, said: “Amidst the heartrending challenges that she and her family have had to endure, this settlement stands as a poignant reminder that safety must always be paramount on construction sites especially when they’re in public areas.

“It reiterates the imperative of holding accountable those responsible for oversights that lead to life-altering events.

"I wish Mrs Abdalla, her beautiful daughter Yomna and her entire family all the best in the future.”

There are 30,000 overnight hospital admissions for outdoor falls every year according to the charity Living Streets, who represent pedestrians.

It say falls can have a huge impact on people of any age and are calling for prevention and better investment in maintaining the road network and pavements.

"Pedestrian falls are a lot more common than we realise," says Rachel Lee, Policy and research manager at Living Streets, "but its a very much under-reported problem and one of the reasons we did the research was to put a scale to the situation."

Rachel Lee from the pedestrian charity Living Streets:

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