A 78-YEAR-OLD woman was hurt after tripping over a temporary surface that was part of the building works on Worcester High Street.

Dorothy Smith, aged 78, was walking to a supermarket to buy groceries when she tripped on temporary surfacing.

"I caught my toe on the edge of a stone and I just went down like a log," she said. "I was walking along - in a bit of a hurry - when all of a sudden, I fell on my face."

The uneven surface, put down while the permanent pavement is laid round about, caused the fall, Mrs Smith claimed.

"All I remember was somebody turning me over, and trying to keep me talking and warm."

She said the paramedics who were called were very caring and considerate.

"I can't praise them enough," she said.

Mrs Smith - who visited the doctor yesterday - was told that an eye infection and bruised ribs were the result of her fall.

"It's awful on the High Street - a terrible mess. I don't see why they can't do it at night - who would they disturb?" asked the pensioner from Nightingale Avenue in Newtown.

"I wonder how many people have had these silly accidents because of the work," she said.

The prolonged delay to the £1.3m revamp programme has been attributed to bad weather and the discovery of mediaeval cellars.

Neville Stocking is the site manager from Alun Griffiths Contractors, which is overseeing operations. He said the onus was on them to keep the city centre as safe as possible during construction.

"We go round at night to make sure there's nothing to trip over and everything is ramped off. We don't want to be negligent.

"At the end of the day, we really do try to keep an eye on these things," Mr Stocking explained.