Jeremy Clarkson is facing a lawsuit from a grandmother who claims a fall in the Farmer’s Dog car park resulted in her requiring surgery.
Elizabeth Purley, age 68, embarked on a three-and-a-half-hour journey from Scunthorpe to explore Clarkson’s Farm in the Cotswolds with her husband, Darren, last November.
The outing took a turn for the worse when Ms. Purley found herself in the hospital after an incident in the car park of the former Top Gear host’s pub, which she referred to as a “total disaster.”
“It was supposed to be a fun day,” remarked the NHS employee. “I was eager to visit because I loved his Amazon show, but the day became unforgettable for all the wrong reasons.”
She recounted, “After buying the most expensive eggs from the farm shop, I fell on them, ended up with nothing, and was seriously injured.”
Ms. Purley continued, “I know Jeremy strives for perfection. The pub was immaculate and the staff were excellent, but the car park was a complete disaster. It’s very dangerous and an accident waiting to happen. I’ll likely bear scars from this for life.”
‘Luckily, I keep myself fit and healthy and I think that helped me but anyone frail could have been more seriously injured. At the minute that carpark is a danger to visitors and needs fixing urgently.’
Heavy rain the previous night had turned the field car park of the pub in Asthall, Gloucestershire, into a virtual mud bath with large metal sheets covering hidden ‘squelchy’ puddles.
Elizabeth Purley, 68, is suing Jeremy Clarkson after a fall in the Farmer’s Dog car park left her needing surgery
The grandmother suffered a fall in the ‘dangerous’ car park, which sliced her hand open and saw her rushed to hospital
‘At the minute that carpark is a danger to visitors and needs fixing urgently,’ she says
Ms Purley added: ‘It was very muddy as it had rained the night before. The cars were continuous, and you really had to watch out as every time they went over these aluminium sheets that would move and rise up as they weren’t fixed down and it was muddy underneath.’
She had a soft drink in the pub and visited the on site Diddly Squat farm shop to buy two boxes of six eggs as a gift, which was carrying them back to the car when she fell.
‘It happened in slow motion – I caught my foot on one of the upturned sheets and my feet went from under me,’ she said.
‘I instinctively threw my hand out to save myself and badly banged my knee. I fell flat landing on the bag carrying the eggs smashing them all.
‘It was really scary as then I was struggling to breathe and was in incredible pain. I knew I had done some damage then and had to go to hospital.’
After reporting the accident to staff in the car park, Ms Purley’s husband – a former ambulance worker – rushed her to Witney Community hospital where they X-rayed her hand and knee.
It was only then she saw the full extent of the damage to her hand after it had been cleaned of mud.
The grandmother – who has a 45-year-old son and two stepchildren aged 30, 29, added: ‘The first I knew my hand was injured was on way to the hospital when I touched the door handle and I saw blood but it was still covered in mud.
Former Top Gear star Clarkson’s Diddly Squat farm has become something of a tourist attraction amid the popularity of his reality show Clarkson’s Farm
The Farmer’s Dog, Clarkson’s pub, is situated on the farm
‘So, I didn’t know how bad it was. But when they cleaned it up, I saw a gaping open and jagged ugly wound. It was horrible and very painful.
‘The car park covers must have been razor sharp to do that sort of damage. The nurse could only put steri strips on where the cut was because she said normal stitches would reopen.’
After being discharged and bandaged she returned to the pub to fill in the accident book and later returned home following a complementary meal.
However after a consultant from the Witney Hospital reviewed her x-rays, he rang suggesting she go to her local Scunthorpe General hospital to have ‘metal fragments’ removed from her hand.
The part time NHS administrator had shortness of breath so also underwent a chest x-ray revealing broken ribs before being referred to nearby Castle Hill hospital in Cottingham to see a plastic surgeon for hand surgery.
Doctors there spent hours ‘reconstructing’ the wound and removing metal carpark cover pieces, eventually using ten stitches to close the jagged, deep gash.
‘The surgeon /consultant brought out some metal that he dug out of my hand and asked if I wanted to keep it as a souvenir but I didn’t need them as the scar on my hand and my painful ribs are a permanent reminder of my pub trip,’ she said.
Ms Purley later returned to the pub with her husband to see if things had improved after her accident and was shocked to see nothing had changed.
She added: ‘I stayed in the car as my hand was still bandaged and I was embarrassed about what happened. I had to see if it had been made safe, but it was exactly the same.
‘Nothing had changed. I at least expected to see a sign saying “caution, uneven surface”. But there wasn’t.
‘There appeared to be little or no maintenance of the sheets they weren’t screwed in or fixed in place. It was very shoddy.
‘It was as if nothing had happened to me and business as usual. When I saw someone else nearly fall I knew I had to do something as I couldn’t forgive myself if an elderly person or child was seriously injured and I could have stopped it.’
Ms Purley later returned to the pub with her husband to see if things had improved after her accident and was shocked to see nothing had changed
The 68-year-old eventually wrote to Who Wants To Be A Millionaire presenter Jeremy and his pub highlighting the dangers of the carpark but got no reply.
Planning permission to install a permanent hard surface to the Car Park has since been approved by West Oxfordshire District Council last month but work cannot begin until a ‘detailed’ surface water drainage scheme has been submitted and approved in the next few months.
Until then, customers still face the temporary metal coverings which Ms Purley says poses an ongoing hazard.
She added: ‘It needs fixing now not later as more people could be seriously injured in the meantime.’
Despite feeling a bit ‘intimidated’ by Clarkson and his celebrity persona she contacted accident specialists Express Solicitors and started a legal claim for compensation.
Accident specialist Jack Klein of Express Solicitors said: ‘Elizabeth suffered a horrific injury on what should have been a fun day out.
‘Celebrities are not above the law, they need to make sure their premises are safe and fit for purpose to protect people visiting their premises inside and out.’
