A WOMAN who fell and broke her ankle at a Bournemouth restaurant has won £87,000 in compensation after being off work for nine months.

The woman, then 39, was out with her boyfriend at Urban Garden in Exeter Crescent when she stumbled on an uneven step, her lawyers said.

They said the incident showed how even a simple fall could lead to “severe and very painful injuries with long-term consequences”.

The woman, a nail technician, snapped her left tibia in the fall and was taken to hospital. She had four operations and had to use a wheelchair for four months.

Now 42, she is still unable to do high impact exercises or go for long walks.

The accident also had an impact on her mental health, her law firm, Coles Miller, said.

Before the fall, she had been experiencing anxiety and had been taking antidepressants, but afterwards she became anxious about going out alone as she feared falling over.

She also worried about using stairs and would avoid them wherever possible.

She was still in pain and anxious about it two years after the accident and was worried whether it would worsen.

She sued the restaurant, arguing the step did not comply with safety guidelines, there had been no inspection to identify the problem, and there was no warning of the defect.

The defendant initially declined liability but then offered £50,000 in compensation, Coles Miller said. The victim declined that offer but agreed to a settlement of £87,000.

Serious injury paralegal Crispin Cormack, of Coles Miller’s Fleetsbridge office, represented the woman.

He said: “Accidents such as this show how even a simple fall can lead to severe and very painful injuries with long-term consequences for both the victim’s physical health and mental wellbeing.

“The significant compensation from the settlement will help to ease our client’s long-term recovery.

“But this accident should never have happened. The unsafe step that caused it could so easily have been repaired – but years later, our client is still suffering as a result of her injuries.”

Urban Garden owner Mark Cribb said the issue had been dealt with by the business’s insurers.

“That’s why we have insurance, so if anything like that happens it’s absolutely right they should be compensated accordingly,” he said.

He said the accident happened in the restaurant’s early days and the steps in question had since been removed as part of a refurbishment.