A DANCER who won a payout after her toe was sliced off in a freak school bus accident has overcome the injury to win a place at a prestigious stage school.
Kristen Evans needed emergency surgery after part of her big toe was chopped off when it got trapped under a seat on the school bus.
She had to give up dancing for a period and sued Bluebird Buses for compensation, saying it remained painful to do
ballet.
The teenager lodged a £20,000 damages claim against the bus company at Perth Sheriff Court and recently reached an out-of-court settlement.
Now she has not only returned to competition dancing, but has won a place at the Italia Conti Theatre School in London.
Miss Evans, 18, of Perth, beat more than 4,000 other hopefuls to win one of just 80 places at the stage school, which is the country's oldest.
The teenager, who first went to dance classes when she was four years old, will start her course at the London school in mid-September.
On her social networking site she said: "Two weeks left guys, Italia Conti here I come."
Miss Evans was forced to have part of her toe amputated after it became trapped between seats on the bus while she was a pupil at Perth High School.
The accident happened on 7 September, 2005 and Miss Evans claimed that the company had failed to look after the safety of passengers.
She lodged a writ seeking £20,000 damages and the court was told in March this year that the Aberdeen-based firm had agreed to pay compensation.
In her writ she said she had only been on the bus to school for a few minutes and was sitting in the second row of seats from the front.
The seats directly in front of her were of the flip-up type and she was sitting behind the empty seat with her legs crossed.
When the bus stopped outside the AK Bell Library in Perth a group of boys got on and one pulled down the flip-up seat and quickly sat on it.
Miss Evans said her foot was immediately trapped between the solid back of the chair and the folding seat, causing her extreme pain.
"She felt immediate pain," the court writ stated. "The top of her left toe was amputated in the accident. She was taken to Perth Royal Infirmary but re-attachment was not deemed viable.
"Later that day she underwent surgery to amputate the left second toe at the DIP joint (the one nearest the tip]. She suffered severe pain."
Miss Evans claimed that she was off school for three weeks and had her sleep disturbed while she was studying for five Highers.
"She is a very keen dancer. At the time she was attending dance classes five times a week. She was regularly competing in dance competitions.
"She was allowed to return to some dancing following her discharge in October 2005. She was unable to undertake point work for ballet for a period of six months.
"The toe remains tender while undertaking such work. The toe remained sensitive to pressure and hot water for three months after the accident."
Miss Evans said: "I love dance; ballet, tap, showdance, jazz, disco, performing arts. I dance at Trio Stage Academy.
"My dream is to study musical theatre and go on to have a career in stage musicals."
The full article contains 590 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
