An 81-year-old woman was left lying on the ground with a broken leg after automatic sliding doors at a Hamilton shopping mall failed to stop as she walked through them.

Almost two months on, Wendy McLean, who was in good health before the incident, is still struggling to recover.

“My independence has gone,” she said from her Tokoroa home.

“I know I won’t ever be the same again … I was walking perfectly normal before this happened.”

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McLean was walking out of the Chartwell Shopping Centre when the doors pushed her to the ground on November 9.

“It collected me and down I went. I whacked my head going down and when I landed my femur broke.”

She also sustained two big bruises to each of her arms.

“All I was doing was walking through the doors,” she said.

“I did not trip, I did not stumble.”

McLean spent 20 minutes lying on the shopping centre’s floor while St John staff attended and were able to take her to Waikato Hospital.

“They cut my pants off in the middle of the shopping centre, but I thought, whatever just do it. In the end, they put a screen around me.”

A steel rod was put in McLean’s leg during surgery, and she spent the next six weeks in hospital. She returned home on December 18 and is now undergoing rehabilitation through ACC.

McLean, who has lived in Tokoroa for 56 years, said the one-hour drive to Hamilton had never been a problem in the past.

But now she needs a walker to get around and it’s likely she won’t drive again.

Her life changed “in the blink of an eye”.

McLean believes the doors failed to detect she was walking through, as she approached the doors on an angle after putting her rubbish in a bin that sat in the corner.

According to McLean, the bin has since been removed.

A month later, McLean received a letter from the mall’s centre manager stating that there had been a review of the incident.

“It appears that the door sensors failed to detect movement after you had put rubbish in the nearby bin, and accordingly unfortunately began to close before you had finished moving through the door,” the letter read.

“This was a very unfortunate incident, and we are sorry for the significant injury that you have suffered as a result of the accident.”

It wished McLean all the best for recovery and rehabilitation and sent their “sincere regrets for the incident”.

In a written statement to Stuff on Tuesday, the mall said a “full and thorough investigation was launched following the accident and no mechanical, operational or service issues were detected with the automatic door.”

It went on to say that all areas of the centre, including automatic doors at the entrance and exits of the building, were regularly serviced and maintained.

McLean received a card, letter and a $350 voucher from the mall, but she wanted them to take better responsibility.

“What’s that going to cover, if I’m going to be like this for six months?

“No box of chocolates, no nice flowers while I was in hospital. It would have been nice if a representative came and saw me while I was in hospital.”

Chartwell Shopping Centre said it has “no liability in this situation” but felt for McLean and her family given the injury she suffered.

McLean’s son, Robert, was disappointed in the lack of communication from the mall.

“They took a month until they made any contact,” Robert said.

“My sister flew up from Nelson, another took a week off from work, and I was across the Kaimais[sic] to visit mum.

“A month later we get a $350 voucher, it’s a kick in the face.”

Robert has been in contact with WorkSafe about the incident.