A BRIDE to be whose arm is set to be incarcerated in plaster during her once in a lifetime event hit out at rail operators this week for showing a lack of grit over the safety of passengers.

PR executive Emily Smith, who lives in the Grove Park area of Chiswick, was on her daily journey to the district line at Gunnersbury station during the icy period at the end of January, when she was faced with the dilemma of either missing her meeting with high powered officials at Capital Radio where she works, or of taking her chances on the sheet of ice that was covering the walkway to the station.

Choosing the latter was to prove more painful than she thought - a moment later she had been unceremoniously upended and was nursing a compound fracture to her arm.

"I approached the station via the long footpath from Wellesley Road on January 30 - the day after the snow which was predicted," she said, "so there was no excuse not to grit the path, which has no handrail just a brick wall.

"The footpath was not gritted and was a pure sheet of ice so I hesitated, but I needed to get to the office for a meeting. Although I was walking slowly and wearing flat shoes, I slipped and sustained multiple fractures."

Surviving the pain of an operation in which her wrist was pinned back together with steel, Ms Smith had to undergo four weeks in a finger to shoulder cast, which left her poorly placed to resume her work, and unable to type.

With her happy day (her fiance is called John) approaching on March 27, Ms Smith is still in a cast, though it is now only to her elbow, and is worried that she will not be able to fit her dress over the cast. Her physician has told her she could be in the cast indefinitely.

"I have endured pain, an ongoing loss of income, great inconvenience and suffering," she fumed.

"I was 4 weeks in a heavy cast from my fingers to my shoulder and now, although am in a cast up to my elbow, this will be on for an indefinite period.

"This has ruined my wedding plans - I cannot wear the dress I bought to get married in because the sleeve will not fit over the cast! I know this particular path has previously been a place where accidents have occurred due to lack of maintenance. I am furious at the situation and what happened to me won't be the last time someone is hurt unless someone takes responsibility maintaining the path."

Ms Smith claims that she is considering legal action against the authority responsible for the path, but hit out at both Network Rail and Silverlink for passing the buck over which company was responsible.

A statement released by Network Rail read: "We are sorry for the situation Ms Smith is currently in, but we can assure her that the claim is being processed.

"Normal procedure has been followed and Network Rail will ascertain where the incident took place and who is ultimately responsible.

"Ownership of footpaths can be difficult to assess from just phone calls and letters so a map might be sent to Ms Smith.

"If Network Rail is responsible our solicitors will handle the issue."