By Chris Slater & Antony Clements-Thrower
A mum fears her young daughter has been scarred for life after “slicing her arm open” on a piece of metal sticking out from a bollard.
Ella Jackson, six, was playing in the street near the family home in Edgeley, Stockport, when she suddenly collapsed on the ground. Mum Jodie rushed her to hospital where she had to have several stitches to close the wound.
She has now been left with a scar on the inside of her upper right arm, but care worker Jodie claims the injury could have been much worse had it cut an artery. The mum says her daughter caught her arm on a “razor sharp “metal cable tie tied to the bollard.
Jodie told Manchester Evening News: “She said 'mummy my arm feels wet' and there was quite a lot of blood coming out. I went over and looked and her arm was completely split open. You could see everything, it was awful.
“I was panicking a bit because it looked really bad. I put her in the car and we went straight there. She threw up in the waiting room because of the shock. They cleaned it up first, which was really traumatic as she was screaming in pain.
"She needed five stitches in the end to close it and that was awful as well. Then they put an iodine bandage over it to stop it from getting infected. She had to go back and have them out, then it split a bit so that's made the scar even bigger.
“She's an anxious kid and this has made that a million times worse. She's now absolutely terrified by anything medical."
Jodie said immediately afterward a neighbour went and cut the cable ties she claimed was on every bollard, to stop any other children from being hurt. She said she reported the incident from May 7 last year to Stockport Council .
She added: “They looked like they might have been holding signs at one point, maybe no parking signs at one point as people used to park there. But there were no signs on them. The edge sticking out was really sharp. It looked like a razor blade or something.
"I'm really upset. She's been left with a permanent scar and traumatised. But it could have been so much worse if it'd have cut a vein or artery."
A spokesperson for Stockport Council said: "As the claim with the council is still live, we are unable to comment further on this ongoing civil case."