PENSIONERS are furious at being sent a bill for nearly £500 to repair a man-hole cover on a pavement.

The old folk live in Heyhead Street, Brierfield, and are angry that Pendle Council thinks they should be the ones to foot the bill after the cover was broken by a delivery wagon.

Insult was added to injury when they received a red final demand to pay for lighting the hole in the pavement.

Widower Charlie Turner and his neighbours are adamant that they should not have to pay.

Said Charlie: "We couldn't believe it. The man-hole is in the pavement. It has nothing to do with us.

"We didn't cause the damage in the first place and none of us asked for the lights.

"When the bill came it said it was for guarding the hole. None of us saw anyone marching up and down, standing guard."

The trouble began when cable-layers broke the cover during excavations.

A new one was installed, but a few weeks later it was damaged when a wagon accidentally mounted the pavement.

Added Charlie: "Now we've had letter from the council saying that a new cover has to take the weight of 40 tonnes - that's the same as they use on the main road for buses to run over.

"This man-hole is in the pavement on a quiet side street. It is laughable. The pavement is for people to walk on, not for traffic."

The old folk have been told they will each have to pay their share of £291.68 for the cover and £162.96 for the lights.

They launched their own investigations after being told they were responsible because their homes drain into nearby pipes.

Said Charlie: "We poured water down and proved the water under the manhole cover is coming from the gutters in the road."

Pendle Environmental Health officer Stuart Arnott promised to look into the pensioners' plight.

He said: "The law is complicated, but people are responsible for the drains until they connect to the public sewer, and that applies to any man-holes along the route. We will look into their findings about water running into the drain from the gutter because it could make a difference."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.