‘All I wanted was £47’
A pensioner battled transport executives for more than a year after slipping over some Metrolink track — over her £47 coat.
Tamesider Athena Slater, 68, fought for a reimbursement from the company which operates Greater Manchester’s trams, KeolisAmey Metrolink (KAM), since last February.
Despite filling in a form sent to her, and repeatedly chasing the firm, Athena said she has ‘not heard a dicky bird’ since November, nearly nine months on from her accident.
“They have totally snubbed me,” the Audenshaw pensioner told the Local Democracy Reporting Service on March 27. “They shouldn’t get away with this.”
Athena’s odyssey began when she slipped over on a walkway across the tram tracks on Lord Sheldon Way in Ashton-under-Lyne where she said ‘oil and mud’ created ‘sludge’ on the path ‘near [Notcutts] garden centre’.
“You are going from one section of public pavement to another but you have to go across the tram line,” Athena explained. “There was oil and mud at the edge of the pavement. I slipped and I put my arm out and my sleeve was damaged.”
Her Tog24 coat was new on that day, as a recent birthday present from her husband. Even though Athena says she ‘hurt her back’ in the fall, she ‘did not ask’ for compensation for her injury.
“All I wanted was £47,” she went on, covering the cost of the coat. But her request began the start of a 13-month-long battle.
“I contacted them and spent a week waiting for them to come back to me,” Athena continued.
“Finally someone came back to me with a form. I filled it in and sent it back with the day… then I heard nothing.”
Athena said she chased KAM ‘in May’, which prompted claims management firm Gallagher Bassett to reply, who said ‘they were waiting for KAM to get back to us’.
After more chasing, Athena said she has ‘heard nothing since November 11, 2024’ — almost nine months to the day since her fall.
However, the radio silence is set to come to an end this week (March 31), after Athena contacted the LDRS to raise awareness of the saga.
Now, KAM has apologised for the delay and Lisa Cleminson, its service delivery director, confirmed the company will pay for the jacket.
“We take pride in proactively managing all customer complaints effectively, but an unfortunate error and delay in responding to the complaint has meant we have fallen short of our high standards on this occasion,” Ms Cleminson said in a statement.
“I would like to apologise to the customer on behalf of Keolis Amey Metrolink. As a gesture of goodwill and in recognition of the length of time taken to respond to their complaint, we will be writing to the customer today to confirm payment for her coat and offer a goodwill payment as part of our apology.”
After receiving the letter, Athena told the LDRS she would accept the reimbursement and goodwill payment, understood to be worth nearly £100.
