A WOMAN suffered “life-changing” injuries after an advertising board fell on her in heavy winds.

The 52-year-old was crushed in the incident and suffered severe head injuries including bleeding on the brain.

A second woman, aged 83, was also hit but escaped serious injury when the hoarding came loose at The Rock shopping centre in Bury town centre.

The board is believed to have been lifted in the wind from ground level near where the outdoor shopping complex meets the site of the now-derelict former nightclub Sol Viva.

The incident was reported to the Health and Safety Executive and on Monday a large section of the site was cordoned off by Greater Manchester Police.

However, officers said the incident was not being treated as a crime.

Sergeant Graeme Whittaker, of Bury Police, said the cordon was due to the “atrocious weather conditions” and the potential of other flying pieces of wood in the wind.

Sgt Whittaker said: “Two females sustained injuries when hoarding came loose in high winds. One female, a 52-year-old, sustained what are thought to be life-changing injuries. She has severe head injuries including a bleed of the brain.”

Later, a spokesman for the HSE said the executive was not investigating because no existing building work is being carried out on the site.

The Rock Bury shopping complex is managed by Savills, but the real estate firm has suggested The Rock does not own the land on which the incident took place, or from where the hoarding came from.

In a statement to the Bury Times, The Rock’s centre director Arnold Wilcox-Wood said: “Savills, as centre manager of The Rock, Bury, fully supported the response by the emergency services into an incident that happened nearby on adjacent land.

“The area has now been secured and an investigation into the incident will be carried out.”

On Tuesday, 24 hours after the incident at 3.30pm on Monday, the area of land where the incident had happened was being guarded by security staff from The Rock shopping complex.

Bury Council building control officers attended the scene as a matter of course, but said it was not being investigated by the council.