AN elderly woman suffered a broken nose, extensive bruising and shock when she tripped on a pot-hole in Thornton-le-Dale.

Seventy-six-year-old Kathleen Buntrock, of Church Lane, was out walking her two dogs when the accident happened on Rectory Lane on Monday morning.

Her husband Anthony, 68, a retired surveyor, took her to their GP before contacting North Yorkshire highways department to complain.

"We've had so much trouble with pot holes in this village, it's diabolical," he said. "There are a lot of elderly people in Thornton-le-Dale, and young children come to that."

He added: "I wouldn't mind, but I'm paying nearly £150 a month in council tax. We're being over-charged, nothing is being done, it's terrible."

Mr Buntrock said he had contacted his solicitor to discuss legal action.

Peter Renshaw, North Yorkshire highways divisional officer for Ryedale, said: "There are quite a few resurfacing and re-patching schemes in the pipeline for Thornton-le-Dale. The orders for some have gone out already, and others will be done at the beginning of the new financial year in April.

"If we are made aware of a pot-hole, we put temporary re-patches on them because that's all we have the resources for until we get next year's budget. If we are made aware of a location, we send someone straight away. The roads are only inspected once a year, so we do need people to tell us. If we don't know about them, we can't do anything."

Updated: 10:38 Wednesday, March 16, 2005