A WALKER from Chalfont St Peter injured his leg and back after falling down a partially covered manhole last Friday.

Neil Evans, 38, was out enjoying a walk along Grove Lane at around 11pm when he fell down the hole in the dark.

The IT services manager, who lives on Hill Rise, said: "I was walking down Grove Lane and all of a sudden my left leg fell down a hole, right down to my groin.

"My shoe came off and I was absolutely soaked.

"I dropped my car keys - which I later found - and broke my glasses.

"There was no manhole cover and no safety lights, and the hole was full of water. It had been partly covered with some flimsy wood and I went straight through it.

"I was in complete shock after it happened. I've strained my right leg and hurt the base of my back. No on ewas around to help and it's pitch black down that road at night."

The next day Mr Evans, a father-of-two, returned to the manhole with his wife, Christine, 38.

They found that a cone had now been moved from a nearby, unfinished, streetlight inst-allation to mark the hazard.

Local residents told him the manhole cover is regularly dragged away by people walking home from pubs.

After calling the Highways on Call emergency number Mr Evans found the hole was properly cordoned off later on Saturday evening.

Mr Evans said: "I feel I was very lucky. If it had been a child they could have been seriously hurt or worse. It really does beg the question why our council tax bills are over £200 per month - I am livid."

Chris Schwier, local area coordinator in transportation for Chiltern District Council said: "Any call-out we get over the weekend we try to make safe as quickly as possible.

As a result of the complaint we got on Saturday we put a temporary cover on the hole and a cone was put on top of it. Then on Monday a full repair was carried out.

"We had actually had a report about this previously, before the unfortunate accident, and it had been made safe previously, but the cone that was left there had been moved."