AN OKEHAMPTON resident who ended up with a black eye after taking a tumble in Simmons Park at night is campaigning for lighting to be installed before anything more serious happens.
Gilly Gilbert was heading towards the pavilion to meet her young grandson from Okehampton Swimming Pool when she caught her foot under fairground cables and fell on the tarmac.
She said the area was in virtual darkness at 8pm and the only light was at the bottom end of the park by the football pitch.
?I was coming up across the grass and as I stepped over a bolder I got my foot caught under a cable between two caravans, which were there for the fairground,? she said. ?It was a bit of a shock and I had a nice black eye the next day but I am more concerned about very elderly people ? it could be a real deathtrap.?
Mrs Gilbert said she could not understand why the area from the swimming pool to the pavilion was not lit because a lot of people used the facility at night.
?I have known there to be lights in the park in the past, but they have been vandalised ? there must be a way of making them vandal-proof.?
Mayor of Okehampton Christine Marsh said she was sorry to hear what had happened to Mrs Gilbert and would be discussing it with the town council as soon as possible.
?Money is not being spent in that area at the moment because we are waiting to hear if the new leisure complex bid is going to be successful, in which case the swimming pool will no longer be there anyway,? she said.
?We have earmarked many thousands of people into this project but if there is a real health and safety issue in the park at the present time we will have to look at it.?