A former carer has made an impassioned plea to Bradford Council to “stop passing the buck” over two roads in Silsden after an elderly man fell on one and badly injured himself.

The deputy mayor of Silsden Town Council, Cllr Liz Trainor, said her shock turned to outrage when she saw the face of 85-year-old Arthur Bernard and discovered he had fallen on the notorious Hillcrest Avenue.

The former engineer, who lives in Staincliffe Court, had been walking home from the town’s Co-op when he tripped over the uneven flagstones on Hillcrest Avenue pavement, split his eyebrow and sprained his wrist.

Mr Bernard, who cares for his wife, said: “I tripped face-first. I didn’t know how bad it was until I saw blood spitting all over the place — it was all over my hands, face and jumper. My wife did an identical thing about three years ago and broke her wrist.

“Something needs to be done about Hillcrest Avenue and Spencer Avenue, which is further up, because they’re terrible.”

Residents and Silsden Town Council have campaigned for years for Bradford Council to repair the roads, which are both unadopted.

Many of the residents on the roads are elderly and cannot afford to fork out the tens of thousands of pounds it would cost to resurface them.

Cllr Trainor made a direct plea to Keighley Conservative MP Kris Hopkins three weeks ago when he was Bradford Council leader, to do something once and for all.

She wrote: “It turns my stomach to hear again and again that it’s an unadopted road, not Bradford Council’s responsibility. Let us see those footpaths re-paired now, before it is too late for one of our pensioners.

Cllr Anne Hawkesworth, now the new leader of Bradford Council’s Conservative group, said she had arranged for officers to visit Spencer Avenue to consider whether potholes needed filling in on health and safety grounds but nothing about Hillcrest Avenue.