“All I can remember was screaming to get the kids out of the car… there was glass everywhere,” she says of the collision.

Kitty attended hospital for scans that initially didn’t reveal any structural damage, only severe bruising and swelling.

She said it took her some time to seek help, at first going to the TAC who dismissed her injuries, telling her that there was nothing wrong with her. She explains how she endured a succession of different case workers, who largely ignored her.

“They tried to put it down to age-related problems, but we had X-rays from the past from when I was trying to have children,” she says, which proved that the injuries were newly acquired.

It wasn’t until she underwent more intensive MRI scans that three fractures were identified to her collarbone, and was then told she also sustained lower back and ribcage injuries.

She speaks with emotion about her difficult battle with the TAC insurers, and her surveillance by the TAC who suspected her of faking her injuries. “They treat you with contempt”.

“I decided that enough was enough,” she says, and decided to fight them.

“I just wanted it on record that, yes, I was in a car accident, that I was injured… and that if I did need future surgery or anything like that, I’d be covered for it.”

Kitty won compensation, has continued with her rehabilitation, and has found renewed interest in life.

“Really fight, and you’ll be vindicated,” she says.