Pensioner treated ‘like the Queen’ after fall in Haywards Heath

But Margaret Matley, 83, was comforted by two strangers, who cared for her until an ambulance arrived in South Road, Haywards Heath.

Margaret said: “They were magnificent to me, I could have been the Queen!

“They ran to me immediately, and waited for 20 minutes for the ambulance to arrive, and never left.

“They helped me to the side of the road, comforted me.

“They gave me a little confidence that I wasn’t going to die on the ground.”

Margaret is searching for Kirsty and Sally, two ‘young ladies’ who looked after her.

“I was so confused and distressed, I should have got their addresses so I could thank them,” Margaret said.

“I’d like to meet them. They went above and beyond, I’m so grateful.”

Speaking last week, Margaret said ‘the pain is a lot less’, and she is feeling much better.

“I’m old enough for it to give me an awful shock,” she added.

Margaret, who lives in Uckfield, was crossing the road on her way to The Orchards Shopping centre when she fell.

She was taken to the Princess Royal Hospital for treatment.

“You hear complaints about the national health service, but they were so good and so quick at the Princess Royal, I could have been in private health care,” Margaret said.

She was also helped by a worker at HSBC on South Road, Carol, who offered to pick Margaret up from the hospital.

“It’s a reminder that there are some wonderful young people in the world,” Margaret said.

Margaret fell asleep on the bus, and rushed off, and felt a headache and dizziness as she crossed the road.

She said the fall may have been because she was ‘dazed’ from an accident in Eastbourne four weeks earlier, when she fell backwards and hit her head when getting onto a bus.

She had ‘nasty whiplash’, and needed an MRI scan in hospital.

Doctors told her she was lucky not to be in wheelchair, and she could easily have never been able to walk again from the first accident.

Margaret continued: “It was just those two times, otherwise I’m really quite sensible! I shouldn’t go out until I’m really better.”

She had particular admiration for Kirsty, who she described as a ‘baby minder’.

“She never took her hand off the push chair. She looked after that baby so well.

“It was a gorgeous baby.

“ I want the parents to know their child is in the hands of a responsible, caring young lady.”

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