A DISGRUNTLED father of an NHS worker has hit out at a gas company after she returned to the family home to find that their driveway had been completely blocked off.

Anthony Crewdson, of Acorn Bank in Holbeck, Barrow, said he was left furious at the 'lazy, uncaring attitude' of Cadent Gas after his daughter was unable to access the drive.

Referring to the barriers outside his house, Mr Crewdson said: “That’s what greeted my daughter coming home from a 10 hour shift at the hospital.”

The problem stemmed from a broken down wagon which had to be left on the street overnight, but Mr Crewdson was not informed of the problem, and was unable to find any personnel on site at the time to raise a complaint about the lack of access to his driveway.

That night his daughter made a complaint to Cadent, who said that it would be rectified the next day.

Elliott Nelson, Cadent’s Head of Customer Operations in Cumbria, said: “We are upgrading around 2,000 metres of old gas mains, and service pipes, in this area of Barrow.

“This is essential to make sure gas continues to flow safely and reliably for many years to come. Our teams work hard to maintain access to driveways and keep in touch with customers about that.

“We had an unfortunate issue when the wagon we use to remove spoil from site broke down. We should have explained this to the customer and sorted it quicker. I apologise for that. It is a real shame, because we’ve built up a good rapport with customers in the area. I’ll make sure we learn from this.”