OUTRAGE: Mother's anger as workmen dig up driveway after getting OK from 15-year-old son

Sajda Parveen, of King’s Causeway, Brierfield, said she came home to find National Grid workmen digging a hole in her drive for gas mains replacement works.

When she asked what was going on, they said her teenage son had said it was OK for them to start the work.

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A National Grid spokeswoman said the policy was to seek permission of somebody over the age of 16 and said an investigation would be launched to establish why this did not happen.

Mrs Parveen, who lives with her husband Mohammed Anwar and five children, said: “They should not be doing jobs like that on the authority of a child.”

The firm is relaying the gas main all the way down King’s Causeway.

The family next door, in Hillsbrough Avenue, were also left with huge holes in both their front and back gardens after both homes were left without gas for a day and a half.

Mrs Parveen said: “The gas just went off on Thursday morning.

“The workmen said they were going to dig a little hole next to my gas meter, but when I came home later that day they were digging up the driveway.

“Apparently they had asked my 15-year-old son if that was OK and he had said yes.

“They said if they didn’t dig it up we would have no gas.

“They have offered me £50 compensation and admitted they shouldn’t have done it without my permission but that is just an insult.”

Next door, Sophia Rasheed, who stays at home to care for her premature baby Zoya, 18 months, who is prone to chest infections, and son Adam, five, said: “We had no warning and we were without hot water and we couldn’t cook any food.

“Zoya is at risk. Last year there were three occasions when she just turned blue and we have been told we have to keep a close eye on her until she is at least three.

“This sort of thing really doesn’t help. We had to go to a local family centre just to keep warm.

“At one point the baby monitor said it was just eight degrees. That is really dangerous.”

And her husband Hasib, who works at AMS Neve in Burnley, said the family had been left with what looked like a bomb site for the whole weekend.

He said: “They said they would just put the flags back down, but we want them to fix it properly and leave it how it was before. It just isn’t fair.”

The gas was switched back on at about 4pm on Friday.

Reedley councillor Mohammed Hanif said Mr Rasheed had called him for help.

He said: “This needs sorting and I will keep pressure on National Grid until all families who have been affected are satisfied.”

A National Grid spokeswoman said: “We have been doing essential work in the Brierfield area to replace old metal gas mains with modern plastic pipes which will have a life-span of at least 80 years.

“Obviously doing this sort of work does cause some short-term disruption to residents.

“The resident in Hillsborough Avenue did not get a letter giving advance notification of our work as we were not planning to renew the gas main in her street.

“However, it transpired that her gas service pipe was connected to the main in King’s Causeway, which meant that it had to be renewed as part of our project.

“Her gas service pipe ran up her neighbour’s drive and across the neighbour’s and her back garden. This is a highly unusual configuration and one which we could not have foreseen until we started to excavate.

“There have been some issues in reaching agreement with the residents about the positioning of their new gas service pipes but this work has now been completed and gas supply to the house in Hillsborough Avenue has been restored.

“It is normal practice for our engineers to get permission for works on private property and this needs to be obtained from someone aged over 16. We are investigating how the work came to be carried out without the required consents.”