'Trapped in our homes for Xmas'

RESIDENTS living in one Accrington street say they were left trapped in their homes for Christmas because of work being carried out by United Utilities.

- BY AMY FENTON

Carer Mark, whose client hasn't been able to leave their home due to the state of Waddington Road in Accrington

Work to replace the water mains between Waddington Road and Surrey Street started on November 3, and due to last eight weeks, as part of the company's £380m programme to upgrade more than 925km of water mains during the next five years.

The work, which is understood to have finished, has been carried out by a contractor. But locals say their road has been left "in a dangerous state" with grass verges reduced to mud banks and "shoddy" resurfacing.

Many of those who live in Waddington Road are elderly and say they have felt like "prisoners in their own homes". Residents claim that United Utilities left them without access to their properties which resulted in them having to walk all the way from Stanley Street "through the slippery, dangerous mud".