A daughter is threatening legal action after her elderly mother was injured after being trapped in the door at the Co-op store in Onchan.
Doris Lay, 91, had been an active and independent lady who until very recently had enjoyed going on world cruises and holidays in Cyprus.
But her daughter Diana Coad says her mother’s health has deteriorated since anincident in March when Doris got trapped in the sliding door at the Onchan Co-op, lost her balance and toppled down the slope into the road.
Back home in Lakeside Gardens, Onchan, after a spell in a nursing home, she now requires near round the clock care.
Diana, a Tory councillor for Slough Borough Council in Berkshire, said: ‘This has changed her life - and I don’t know whether it will shorten her life. She’s my mum and I can’t bear to see her like this.
‘She’s got carers in virtually 24 hours a day. They have to help her get up and get dressed. Before this accident mum would go out two or three times a week and walk to the shops and back. She did her own washing, ironing and cleaning. She always had a strong grasp of current affairs but now her memory has been shot to pieces by the trauma.
‘This is all through no fault of her own. The Co-op are just saying this is not their responsibility. They way they have behaved is absolutely disgraceful.’
Doris, who had got about with the assistance of a wheeled walker, had been to the blood clinic at Noble’s Hospital when she was dropped off at the Co-op on March 6.
Her daughter, who has stood for election as an MP in Slough and in the West Midlands, said: ‘While she was in the shop the door’s electrics were playing up, opening and closing and then not completely closing or not completely opening.
‘The door started to close on her. She was trying to hold the door back with her other hand on the walker. Mum was half outside and lost her balance and she tried to grab hold of the walker. She toppled down the slope and into the road.’
Diana said her mum’s injuries could have risked being exacerbated because a member of staff lifted her up by the arm and walked her back into the store.
She said it was costing £1,500 a week to pay for round the clock care.
The family’s lawyer Pervez Choudhury told the Manx Independent said: ‘She was a very independent lady, very active for her age. But now she has difficulty in doing her normal routine.
‘In ideal circumstances we would not look to issue legal proceedings. There would be a lot of costs to take this matter to court but if push came to shove we will do it. Unfortunately the Co-op is not co-operating. They are adamant that no they won’t accept liability. They have supplied copies of the CCTV footage which they say shows she was already outside when she fell down.’
He said his clients were not seeking damages only the costs of Doris’s rehabilitation in terms of nursing care and home care. Mr Choudhury said that given Doris’s age, Co-op should act quickly to settle the claim.
A spokesperson for The Co-operative Food said: ‘We are sorry that Mrs Lay suffered a fall outside our Onchan store, and we wish her a full recovery. Staff immediately went to Mrs Lay’s assistance, and rang for an ambulance.
‘After carrying out a thorough investigation into the circumstances we do not believe The Co-operative is in any way liable for this unfortunate incident. CCTV footage shows that Mrs Lay was clear of the door and that she fell on the pavement after she had exited the store.’