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Tamara Avery suing Stroke Park Foundation in Herne Bay for £150,000 after falling on ice

00:01, 21 February 2019

updated: 12:33, 21 February 2019

A woman is suing her former employer for £150,000 after she fell on ice and injured herself at work.

Care worker Tamara Avery, of St Andrews Close in Whitstable, was leaving Herne Bay-based disability charity Strode Park Foundation when she slipped while walking down a wooden ramp.

A writ published by London’s High Court says she injured her back and right knee in the fall at the charity’s Mill View Road site, and was left needing surgery, physiotherapy, steroid injections and hydrotherapy.

Tamara Avery. Picture: Paul Amos
Tamara Avery. Picture: Paul Amos

Ms Avery, 49, returned to work a fortnight after her fall, but found the pain too much and eventually stopped working in June 2015.

Her employment contract with Strode Park was terminated due to ill health in November that year, and she has been unable to go back to work, the writ says.

Ms Avery is now seeking £150,000 in compensation.

Insurers for Strode Park have admitted liability for the incident, which happened on February 3, 2015.

However, the case is set to come before the High Court as the two sides are unable to agree on how much Ms Avery should receive.

Strode Park. Picture: Paul Amos
Strode Park. Picture: Paul Amos

Two years after her workplace fall on April 1, 2017, Ms Avery suffered horrific injuries when she was involved in a car crash on the A299 Thanet Way at St Nicholas-At-Wade.

She and her children were rushed to hospital, after a vehicle ploughed into the back of their car at 60mph, shunting it into a tipper truck.

Ms Avery was flown to King’s College Hospital in London with serious scalp and spinal injuries, and put in an induced coma.

Her daughter, Lauren, 26, was airlifted to another London hospital with spinal injuries and her son, Kieron, 18, was treated at the William Harvey Hospital in Ashford for a broken shoulder.

Tamara Avery's Daihatsu after the horrific crash
Tamara Avery's Daihatsu after the horrific crash
Tamara Avery was left scarred after being virtually scalped in the smash
Tamara Avery was left scarred after being virtually scalped in the smash

Ms Avery was discharged to her parents’ home in Herne Bay two weeks later, but was soon rushed to the QEQM in Margate with a perforated bowel caused by the crash, and had part of her intestine removed.

At the time, she told the Gazette: “Our lives have changed completely. What we went through was horrific.

“I now have problems being in a car - I have moments of panic.”

The writ indicates Ms Avery is also planning to sue over the crash, but does not specify against whom that claim will be made.

It adds that she can no longer drive, and needs help from her family with cooking, household chores and getting to medical appointments.

Ms Avery and Strode Park were approached by KentOnline, but neither wanted to comment.

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