A dangerous situation during work on Monnickendamstraat in Zaandam has already resulted in several falls. Corrie de Kruijf (72) and an older neighbor fell hard at the beginning of last month over pipes that were lying loose on the sidewalk. To the dismay of the residents, the situation is still not safe: “They don’t seem to be interested.”
It had been a nice Sunday evening at the beginning of October, they were having dinner with the kids. But once home, a big hangover awaited Corrie and André de Kruijff. “Here it was,” André points out the place where his wife Corrie fell. In the dark she overlooked the black pipe that had been placed there for work.
Inside, Corrie tells her story. When she thinks about it again, tears well up in her eyes. “I just slid across the ground. Pieces of my tooth were missing, my face was open, ribs were bruised. Shortly afterwards another lady fell. My son-in-law shouted ‘watch out!’ , but he could not finish his sentence. That woman was transported to the hospital by ambulance.”
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She can no longer see it, but she still suffers from the fall every day. “It was quite a blow. I have a headache every day, so I just take aspirins and then you just keep living that way. I was terribly shocked.”
A day after her fall, the place where the pipe was located was cordoned off with a fence. “So it is possible,” Corrie smiles a bit cynically. But look at the street now: although there are many posts and most of the pipes on the ground have been finished, there are still many points that you can easily trip over, especially in the evening in the dark. Much to André’s dissatisfaction: “It is still not safe at all.”
He wrote about it on Facebook and received support from local residents who were also concerned about it or had stumbled themselves. “And when you speak to the employees here, they don’t speak a word of Dutch. They don’t seem to be interested one way or another.”
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André continues his story with something that stings him: “To date, no one from the opposing party (Liander, ed.) has come to our front door, even though they know what happened to my wife because I have held them legally responsible. They have shown no sign of compassion to say ‘sorry’ or to provide information. Absolutely nothing, and it is now five weeks later. I think that is quite a negative point.”
A neighbor says she spoke to the executor on Facebook. They want to take action to make things safer. NH asked Liander for a response this afternoon, but it had not yet been received at the time of this publication.
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