RESIDENTS and seafront traders have criticised paving near the i360, blaming it for a number of trips and falls.

They say it is a daily occurrence to see people oblivious to the step trip up or fall down outside the West Pier Arches shops on Brighton seafront.

Witnesses claim people have been left with twisted ankles – and one woman said she knocked her tooth out.

The complaints come only months after Brighton and Hove City Council decided to install the paving to match the British Airways i360 landscaping nearby.

Speaking to The Argus Symond Lawes, 52, of Lansdowne Road, Hove, who frequently walks his dogs on the seafront, said he has seen three people fall to the ground in recent months.

The events promoter said: “I was walking along and saw a little boy hit it with his bike and fall off, I’ve seen an old lady a few weeks ago fall over, and another guy tripped over it.

“So that is three I have seen just by walking past, so there must be a lot of people it is affecting.

“They are walking into it and over it. The council have put a step in the middle of a pedestrian area.

“You’ve got the big i360 which people are looking at that as they’re walking towards it and tripping over the step. I just don’t understand why they have done it, the step is about four or five inches high so it is not as big as a normal step – it is ankle height. People are just knocking into it every day.”

When Mr Lawes posted about the step on Facebook, one woman came forward to say she knocked her tooth out falling on it.

She wrote: “When I tripped and fell and knocked my tooth out the council informed us that it is an area they looking into as there had been several other problems there.”

Another woman wrote: “I fell and really hurt myself here too. This is not something that I usually do. I was standing still right by it and decided to walk over to look at something and fell flat on my face.”

One trader in the West Pier Arches, who did not want to be named said: “I see people trip a lot. Some people have hurt themselves quite badly.

“It is an everyday occurrence. We have warned the council about this as it was being built and we tell them every day. They have put a black

anti-slip strip, but the problem is not that it is slippery, but that there is a step and nobody knows about it.

“So you are talking to your friend and walking down and up you fall. It is a silly design and doesn’t really achieve anything.”

The paving was installed last year to install near-identical bricks to match the i360.

Traders at the time were frustrated about the amount of time the paving work had taken and its effect on business.

A spokesman for the city council said: “We have received one claim in connection with this step concerning an accident that happened in July 2017. We have installed a black strip on the edge of the step to help make it more visible.

“We believe this has improved things, but we are continuing to investigate whether there are other measures we can take to make the step more visible.”