Pat Drewett fell on uneven cobblestones in Didcot's new Orchard Centre A pensioner has fallen and broken her arm at Didcot's new Orchard Centre -- three months after council bosses admitted cobblestones were a tripping hazard.

Serious safety concerns have been raised at the shopping centre after Pat Drewett tripped on uneven cobbles and it is believed she is not the first resident to fall.

Council bosses admitted some of the surfaces in the £50m centre were tripping hazards just days before it opened in June.

But work to remedy the problems has yet to start.

Mrs Drewett broke her arm and gashed her head open after tripping on the granite cobblestones designed to deter skateboarders. She fell outside The Carphone Warehouse in Orchard Street earlier this month.

"I was walking towards Clarks and I caught my foot on a protruding cobble. You can see one of the cobbles was higher than the rest. They are uneven," she said.

"I fell straight on my face."

She was taken to hospital were she required five stitches above her eye and had her arm put in plaster.

Mrs Drewett, of High Street, Didcot, said she had never tripped like that before and the accident had left her badly shaken.

"The cobbles look very nice but they're not the right thing. You do not expect things like that to be protruding," she said.

Mrs Drewett thanked the women who had helped her and called for help.

But she added that even the ambulance struggled in the Orchard Centre.

"The ambulance could not get out. It could not turn around and had to back out. That is something else they will have to look at."

The week the centre was opened, South Oxfordshire District Council bosses admitted some of the cobblestones were a tripping hazard.

Brendan Walsh, the then head of economic development at the council, said some of the cobblestone 'sets' had been put in too high. He said a programme of rework had been agreed with contractors.

But the council confirmed this week that work had not started.

A spokesman for the council said specifications and locations had been agreed but they were waiting for a start date from contractors.

Centre manager Rudi du Plessis, of LXB Properties confirmed that situation: "The cobblestones have been accepted by the council as fit for use but they are not the final issue. They will be relaid closer together."

Concerns have also been raised about the steps at the bottom end of Orchard Street next to Sainsbury's.

There is only one handrail on the flight of sixteen steps and at the far end, where there are just nine steps, there is no handrail at all.

District councillor Sara Davidson said she had been contacted by several retired residents calling for more handrails.

Mrs Davidson said she had raised the issue with council officers, contractors Taylor Woodrow and centre owners LXB Properties Ltd, but to no avail.