A man is suffering from PTSD after breaking his leg in a horror fall on an "un-gritted" Scots road.
Nicholas Bell was in agonising pain and forced to spend weeks in hospital following the fall on Murdoch Terrace in Edinburgh in January last year.
The 39-year-old, who is from the capital, has since complained to Edinburgh City Council - but he's been told the icy pavement was "not a critical safety defect".
Nick says he had "a panic attack" and was "screaming for help" before a member of the public came to his assistance, reports Edinburgh Live.
An ambulance rushed him to the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary where he spent 10 days while surgeons operated on his broken leg.
Nick ended up back in hospital shortly after falling, and he faced further complications when the fall lead to the screws in his bone becoming bent and broken - which he described as "excruciatingly painful".
Nick said: "You should have seen me waiting a week for an operation, my leg was like an elephant leg. The surgeons had two pages of waiting lists for operations.
"MSPs and local councillors were screaming for help with the harsh conditions of the pavements.
"On the day of the incident I was going to Sainsbury’s literally two minutes away from my doorstep. The conditions were around -5 there was a clear frosty effective on the path on the road and path."
Nick insists he was dressed suitably for the weather and says it was on his trip back he unfortunately slipped on the black ice.
"I was wearing North Face walking boots and the time was roughly around 7am. I was going this time due to my sensitive nature of being around people," he said.
"There is a pub on the corner of my street at the time going to Sainsbury’s, I thought it was already open - but due to it being Sunday it didn’t open until 8am.
"So I went back home, but on my way home walking past the pub straight up my street I came across some black ice due to the lack of care from the council."
The 39-year-old continued: "That was the place, my left foot went forward in an awkward way, to where my leg twisted and you heard my leg actually crack like breaking a piece of ice.
"Basically I fell backwards, and I could not get up and I couldn’t even lift my leg up I was in extreme pain.
"My PTSD actually kicked in to the point where I’m having a panic attack on top of screaming for help until someone actually called an ambulance."
"I was basically waiting roughly 30 minutes due to how busy Edinburgh Royal Infirmary were at that time.
"The pain I was going through is something I never imagined or experienced before."
Despite taking place over a year ago, the accident still impacts his daily life. Nick explained: "Even the muscle damage I endured still hasn’t fully recovered and I get tingling and numbness sensations still one year later.
"On top of that sometimes I’m afraid to go outside due to all the stress conditions I have been put through in life."
Nick is still pursuing action over the pain and trauma he has experienced which he believes Edinburgh Council are responsible for.
A council spokesperson said any public liability insurance claim is considered on an individual basis and it would not be appropriate to comment on individual cases.
