Hole lot of trouble is resident's nightmare

CENTRE OF ATTENTION . . . Manhole cover works on Ripponden Road, Littlemoor, Oldham

A MANHOLE left uncovered in the middle of a busy road has been a four-week nightmare for one woman whose parked car was damaged after traffic struggled to navigate around it.

Sharon Owens first noticed the issue outside her home on Ripponden Road over four weeks ago and reported the problem to Oldham Council, who had placed barriers around the hole and reduced the space available for vehicles to pass.

After being told that the manhole was the responsibility of Electricity North West, she contacted them, but says the hole was left uncovered for four weeks.

The issue came to a head when Sharon's parked car was hit by a vehicle trying to pass the hole, resulting in her wing mirror being almost knocked off.

Sharon said: "I contacted them several times over the weeks to tell them about it and was told it would be fixed. But nothing was done.

"Even when I told them that my car had been hit they still didn't act."

After growing frustrated about the service she received, she made a formal complaint to Electricity North West about the issue.

"I'd followed all the correct procedures and still got nowhere," she said. I must have spent £30 on calls trying to get it fixed.

"After I made the official complaint I was told that someone would be out to repair it. On the day they were due to come I returned home from work and it was still not fixed. But Electricity North West sent me a message to say my complaint had been resolved. I'm disgusted, the way I have been treated is outrageous."

After being contacted by the Chronicle, Electricity North West confirmed that the repairs have been carried out and Sharon had been contacted with an apology for the delay.

Stephanie Trubshaw, Customer Director for ENW, said: "We've spoken to Ms Owens multiple times throughout this work and have apologised for the delay.

"Despite our engineers attending the site to make it safe within two hours, it did take us longer than usual to fully repair and reinstate the manhole cover. We've spoken with our contractors about the delay on this job and ensure this doesn't happen again."