Pensioner hit on head by falling shoe vows never to fly again after plane makes emergency landing
A pensioner hit on the head by a falling shoe on a plane has vowed she 'won't fly anymore' after the flight was forced to make an emergency landing.
Hilda Holland, aged 79, was badly injured during the freak accident when the footwear dropped from an overhead luggage compartment on the Thomas Cook flight on January 10.
A fellow passenger opened the locker to get some warm clothing when the heavy leather suede shoe fell out 50 minutes into the flight from Fuerteventura to Birmingham.
She was taken from her seat to the front of the plane and treated by two off-duty nurses who happened to be on the Thomas Cook Airbus A321-211.
The plane made an emergency diversion to Lisbon where Hilda was quickly stretchered off with her worried husband John, 77. She was rushed to the British Hospital Lisbon XXI and given a CT scan, which fortunately showed no permanent damage.
Hilda, who lives with John in Rowley Regis, said: "I was sitting there and all of a sudden I felt a bang on my head.
"We won't fly anymore. That was a wake-up call for us."
A spokesperson for Thomas Cook said:
"We hope Mrs Holland makes a full recovery."
