First citizen aid

CIVIC leaders went to the aid of an elderly Littlehampton woman who tripped up in the shopping precinct just before the Remembrance Sunday parade set off through town.

Mary Bateman, 83, of Maltravers Road, suffered a black eye and bruising to her face after the fall, opposite the Ockendens hardware store in High Street.

Town mayor Mark Butler and leading councillor Dr James Walsh went over to see how Mrs Bateman was.

Dr Walsh, a GP at Rustington, checked to see she had no broken bones.

Daughter Julia Bateman was with her mother at the time. She said: "The paving is very bad there. My mother really banged her face badly and her glasses were smashed. It was a very nasty shock."

The High Street paving was replaced last year in a 200,000 scheme involving West Sussex county and Arun district councils.

Miss Bateman said a county council official had said she could write in for a claim form for her mother and the incident would be investigated.

A spokeswoman for West Sussex County Council said a highways superintendent had visited the High Street to investigate, but found no evidence of any defects in the paving.

The council was now awaiting more information from Miss Bateman.