Following the injury the week before to an elderly man who was pinned to the ground by a market stall, another elderly man tripped over steel slabs on the ground between one of two remaining, empty market stalls. In his fall, he cut his hand.

Ronald Chase was walking between a market stall outside Linda Howard’s shop, Dartmouth Pet Foods, and the shop itself, when he tripped over a two inch thick metal plate used to even up the stall. Mr Chase uses a stick and found it difficult to get through the gap, when he tripped on Tuesday morning last week.

Since the incident, the offending market stall has been moved to give more room and the slabs are now largely inside the stall’s frame.

Tracie Fox, proprietor of the Fox Exchange in the Old Market said: “I heard an almighty thump and Mr Chase scream. I got there at the same time as Linda from the pet shop. I did my nurse Nightingale bit.

“I ran to the Community Cafe to get their first aid kit. He had fallen over and was bleeding profusely from his hand. He had tripped over the steel slab sticking out from under the market stall as he was trying to get between Linda’s shop and the market stall.”

Linda Howard, proprietor of Dartmouth Pet Foods said: “Whistling Ron walked past my shop and tripped over a steel brick that was levelling up Tesa’s stall. He cut his fingers. Tracy got some wipes from the cafe and cleaned him up.”