A COUPLE with a severely disabled daughter said they were furious a ‘dangerous’ hole has been left outside their house for several months.

Workmen from United Utilities dug the hole at the Darwen home of Frank Kenny and his partner Yvonne Fern in an attempt to fix a leaking pipe in September but it has not been filled back in.

To make matters worse, Yvonne’s daughter Jessica, 16, suffers from health problems including a bad heart, epilepsy and curviture of the spine and has just undergone major surgery to replace a valve in her heart at Alder Hey Hospital.

Mr Kenny said he had reached the end of his tether but desperately wanted the situation resolved before Jessica was discharged from hospital.

Mr Kenny, of Spring Vale Garden Village, said the problem began when he spotted a leak on the path outside his home.

The 46-year-old builder said he spoke to United Utilities who arranged to send out a workman to fix the problem.

It was agreed the contractors would move stone flags, dig a hole to find the problem and fix it and fill in the hole, but Mr Kenny would have to re-lay his flags.

The work was carried out but, in September, there was another leak and United Utilities agreed to send workmen round again, under the same proviso.

Mr Kenny said: “They couldn’t find it and said they would send some other lads but it took four days to get someone out.

“But then over that weekend we thought we could smell gas so we called out the gas board.

“They then dug a further hole to fix the gas leak and asked us to let them know when the water board had finished so they could come back and fill their hole in.”

Mr Kenny said once the hole had been filled, United Utilities should have come back out to fill their hole in, but they didn’t.

He said: “We kept getting these phone calls from their customer services asking if we were satisfied and we would tell them what had happened but nothing got resolved.

“As far as I am concerned, they dug the hole so they should fill it in so I can put the flags back in.

“This has been going on now since October and I am fed up of it. I have reported it to Ofcom.

“It is dangerous and I am worried that Jessica could hurt herself as we are basically walking over ramps, which would be far from ideal for her.”

After the Lancashire Telegraph contacted United Utilities, a spokesman for the firm said a meeting had been arranged with Mr Kenny today in a bid to have the issue resolved.