AN ELDERLY lady has thanked the ‘true samaritans’ that helped her when she fell over and injured herself in the centre of Dursley.

Hazel Harris, 83, tripped over at the crossing near the marketplace and cut her lip badly, leaving her covered in blood.

Hazel was in Dursley with her husband Malcolm on December 30 but left him for a short while in order to run some errands whilst he went to the bank.

When she was returning to him she was walking across the zebra-crossing by the junction of Castle Street and Long Street, near the marketplace, when she fell over and landed on her face.

“I was a bit longer than I thought I would be away from Malcolm and so when I was on my way back instead of going to the end of the crossing I cut to the side and tripped up the pavement,” said Hazel, who lives in Cam. “I was bleeding a lot and some very kind passers-by helped and helped find Malcolm. He went and got the car and people told us to go to the Vale hospital.

“I then was told that I had to go to Gloucester and eventually I had some stitches in my lip. I had around 10 stitches from the incident.”

Hazel has been back to the trauma clinic recently and they have said that she is healing well.

“They were all really good with me and we were very quickly dealt with at the time,” she said. “It has meant that I have struggled to eat since, which has caused some problems.

“I’d like to thank all the kind people who stopped to help me when I fell on my face.You were true Samaritans, kind and helpful people, who got me back to my feet prior to my visit to hospital. I am slowly recovering, and am so appreciative to you all.”