A retired Fife school teacher has told of the terrifying moment when she realised she was going to be hit by a load of wooden pallets that were toppling off a lorry.
Jemima Manson, 76, was walking on the pavement close to the junction of the A91 and Low Road on the western side of Auchtermuchty, around 8.45am on Tuesday when she was knocked unconscious by at least one of the falling pallets and sustained back, hip and head injuries.
Mrs Manson, who was recently widowed, was treated by paramedics at the scene and transferred by ambulance to Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy.
As she recuperated at her daughter’s home in Falkirk, she told The Courier she felt lucky to be alive.
She said: “I do not know how I got off so lightly. I was having a wee walk with it being such a lovely morning. I’ve had a sore ankle and decided to go for a walk to give it a stretch.
“I saw the lorry coming. The load was already swaying as it came around the corner and started to collapse into the junction of the road ahead of me.
“I thought I’d be OK but then the lorry kept coming and the domino effect meant the pallets kept falling.
“I realised there was nothing I could do and crouched and turned my back. I got hit in the back I don’t know if it was just one and it forced it me down.
“When I came to the lorry driver was removing pallets from on top of me. I’d banged my head.
“It was very frightening. I saw them careering towards me and couldn’t face them hitting me, which is why I turned.
“It was one of those freak things. The doctor said I had done the right thing by turning away. It all happened so quickly.”
Mrs Manson, who taught for many years at Castlehill Primary in Cupar and Kettle Primary in Kingskettle, has lived in Auchtermuchty for 43 years.
Her husband Peter died from cancer seven months ago, aged 80. He worked for many years at the former Nairn’s Linoleum factory in Kirkcaldy and in latter years he had been well known as a driving instructor.
Mrs Manson, a grandmother of five, said staff at Victoria Hospital tried to keep her in longer than a few hours. But, because of her husband’s recent death and the bad memories she had of being in hospital, she was keen to get out and it was agreed she should recuperate with her daughter Patricia, a dentist who runs the Bannockburn Dental Surgery in Falkirk.
Another daughter, Helen, a doctor, lives with her family in London while Mrs Manson’s son Peter, 48, who works with disabled people at Matrix Fife in Dalgety Bay, lives with his wife Zhiyun, 33, in Auchtermuchty.
Zhiyun, who works at the YMCA in Cupar, said: “We got a real fright because these pallets are heavy things. She’ll be fine down in Falkirk for a week or two but I’m a bit worried now about her age and how she’s going to cope when she comes back.
“She’s always out but this could affect her confidence. There’s no doubt she could have been killed, but there’s been a lot of support from the community.
“I would like to thank everyone who stopped to help her by calling the police and then an ambulance.”
The road remained closed for several hours on Tuesday as police took statements from witnesses, including the driver of the eastbound lorry from H&R Gray Haulage of Throsk, near Stirling.
The company has declined to comment on the incident.