Perth, Western Australia May 10, 2008 Home News Time Out Letters Write a Letter Special Coverage Walsham Classifieds Search Real Estate Trades & Services Submit About Contact Us Advertising Legal	'Trip to the bus made me a widow' Austin Nugent - died after falling through a bus shelter at City Beach. Austin and Jean Nugent were looking forward to their day out. Walk down the hill at City Beach, catch the bus with their seniors' discount tickets, ride in to the city station seniors' centre and get their toenails clipped. But Cambridge council had earthworks happening, so they couldn't reach their usual bus stop. Instead, they went to the shelter at the corner of The Boulevard near Kalinda Drive at City Beach. Jean handed her sunglasses to Austin, her husband of 66 years, saying: "Here, hold these while I get the bus fare out of my purse." She recalls: "He went to lean his back against the side of the shelter, which should have been a pane of glass. "The glass was missing and he fell through on to the concrete surround, suffering multiple lacerations to his legs and hands, broken ribs and a head wound. "Thankfully, so many people stopped to help and Austin was taken to hospital. "A young fellow in a ute (from Steve's Kerb Repairs) stopped and put his cardigan under Austin's head, which was bleeding. "The policeman from Wembley (Sen-Sgt Mike Green) was phenomenal. He said that if the ambulance did not take me, he would drive me to the hospital. And as we drove off in the ambulance, a lot of people waved good luck. "That was the morning of October 22. "There were no beds for Aussie to stay in hospital, so they sent him home. "I had to nurse him for a month. He had terrible cuts on his legs and blood blisters on his hands. The nurses came three times a week. But he couldn't shower. I had to wash him. "But he got worse and eventually they tested and found blood clots in his head and they did the operation. "Sadly, he died on January 4 as a result of his injuries. "It was a shelter which we did not normally use. "Several residents have told me since Austin's accident that the entire side glass panel of the shelter had been missing for weeks. "Immediately after Austin fell through the shelter, the council placed tapes cross the side of the shelter to show that there was no side panel. "Austin died at 1.30pm on January 4. A huge limb from a gum tree crashed on the shelter later the same night." Mrs Nugent said her only contact with Cambridge council had been through an insurance assessor who called to ask about the incident. She said: "It was such a shock. Austin was 91 but he was out and about. He was physically well and with a small amount of dementia. "But that fall apparently caused a clot on the brain and he had surgery but never recovered. I didn't want him to go that way. "Nobody has been in touch from the council. They're going to make millions from that land." This week, Jason Buckley, Cambridge chief executive, said: "The incident to which Mrs Nugent refers was very unfortunate. This bus shelter has been subject to numerous acts of vandalism since it was installed. "As is the case with other councils, the town has a maintenance contract for its bus shelters. Due to the frequency of the vandalism in this instance, action was being taken to substitute steel mesh for the glass in the panels." Mrs Nugent said she missed her husband terribly. "I've been bawling like a baby," she said. "I went to the bank to sort out the money and the manager had to go and get a box of tissues for me. "I went to the doctor and he has put a heart monitor on me because it's fluttering and going all over the place." They couple moved to Ocean Gardens retirement village 20 years ago from Sydney, where her husband spent his working life as a bricklayer. Her daughter, Carol Webb, a lawyer and former Nedlands councillor, said: "Dad's death should be vindicated by an apology. "Cambridge could say: 'We are very sorry.' "I did write to the council that we would probably make a claim. But that possibility has gone with Dad's death. "Mum simply wants the council to say sorry. It is perfectly safe, legally, for them to now say 'sorry'. "If they knew the glass was broken, and it had been swept up by somebody, then why were there not a lot of warning tapes? "Simply sending a bunch of flowers and a note would have been compassionate without in any way admitting liability." Do you have something to say? Write to us and we may publish your letter next week. BACK TO TOP < PREVIOUS - HOME - NEXT> Copyright © 1999 - 2008 Post Newspapers Pty Ltd. All rights reserved.