Clarkson’s Farm fan Elizabeth was excited to visit the scene of his hit TV show and even bought eggs from the shop, but said she left with “diddly squat” and broken ribs after she suffered a fall
A grandmother is suing Jeremy Clarkson after claiming she was seriously injured in a fall at his Farmer’s Dog car park. Elizabeth Palmby, 68, broke her ribs and had to have surgery after tripping and slicing open her hand on what she claimed were on ‘razor sharp’ temporary metal covers.
Surgeons later had to operate to remove metal fragments from the carpark that were left inside her hand, leaving her with a “horrible” jagged scar as a permanent reminder of when her ‘fun’ trip to the pub turned into a nightmare.
Elizabeth, who visited the pub as she is a fan of the smash hit Amazon Prime series Clarkson’s Farm, said: “I bought my most expensive boxes of eggs from the farm shop but then I fell on them and was left with diddly squat and was badly injured.”
Elizabeth and her husband Darren had made the three- and half-hour journey down from their home in Scunthorpe, Lincs, last November, first visiting the Diddly Squat Farm then the Farmer’s Dog pub the following day.
She said: “It was supposed to be a great fun trip – I really wanted to visit as I enjoyed watching his Amazon show. But it was memorable for all the wrong reasons.“I know Jeremy is a perfectionist and the pub itself was perfect and the staff were great, but the carpark was a total disaster. It is very dangerous and an accident waiting to happen. I am probably scarred for life.“It was very muddy as it had rained the night before. The cars were continuous, and you really had to watch out as every time they went over these aluminium sheets that would move and rise up as they weren’t fixed down and it was muddy underneath.”
Elizabeth had a soft drink in the pub and visited the on site Diddly Squat farm shop to buy two boxes of six eggs as a gift and was carrying them back to the car when she fell.
She added: “It happened in slow motion – I caught my foot on one of the upturned sheets and my feet went from under me. I instinctively threw my hand out to save myself and badly banged my knee.“I fell flat landing on the bag carrying the eggs smashing them all. It was really scary as then I was struggling to breathe and was in incredible pain.
“The first I knew my hand was injured was on way to the hospital when I touched the door handle and I saw blood but it was still covered in mud. So, I didn’t know how bad it was. But when they cleaned it up, I saw a gaping open and jagged ugly wound.“It was horrible and very painful. The carpark covers must have been razor sharp to do that sort of damage. The nurse could only put steri strips on where the cut was because she said normal stitches would reopen.”
She returned to the pub to fill in the accident book and after a complimentary meal and new eggs, she returned home.But after a consultant from the Witney Hospital reviewed her x-rays, he rang suggesting she go to Scunthorpe General hospital to have metal fragments removed from her hand.The part time NHS administrator had shortness of breath so also had a chest x-ray, which revealed broken ribs, before being referred to Castle Hill hospital near Hull, East Yorks., to see a plastic surgeon for hand surgery.
Doctors there spent hours reconstructing the wound and removing metal carpark cover pieces, eventually using ten stitches to close the jagged, deep gash. Elizabeth added: “The scar on my hand and my painful ribs are a permanent reminder of my pub trip.”Elizabeth later returned to the pub with her husband to see if things had improved after her accident and claimed she was shocked to see nothing had changed.
She claimed: “Nothing had changed. I at least expected to see a sign saying ‘caution, uneven surface.’ But there wasn’t. There appeared to be little or no maintenance of the sheets they weren’t screwed in or fixed in place. It was very shoddy.
“It was as if nothing had happened to me and business as usual. When I saw someone else nearly fall I knew I had to do something as i couldn’t forgive myself if an elderly person or child was seriously injured and I could have stopped it.”Planning permission to install a permanent hard surface to the car park has since been approved by West Oxfordshire District Council last month.
But work cannot begin until a “detailed” surface water drainage scheme has been submitted and approved in the next few months. And until then customers still face the temporary metal coverings which Elizabeth says poses an ongoing hazard.
She, claimed: “It needs fixing now not later as more people could be seriously injured in the meantime.”Accident specialist Jack Klein of Express Solicitors, which is handling her compensation claim, said: “Elizabeth suffered a horrific injury on what should have been a fun day out.“Celebrities are not above the law, they need to make sure their premises are safe and fit for purpose to protect people visiting their premises inside and out.”Jeremy Clarkson has been contacted for comment.
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