Contractors board up ‘wrong house’ in Barrowford

The property in Walton Street, Barrowford, which has been boarded up in error by a contractor who should have been sealing up a house with the same address in Nelson.

Neighbours of the empty 9 Walton Street, Barrowford, were stunned to discover metal boards put up on the property by contractor Orbit. They should have been used on sealing up the unoccupied 9 Walton Street, Nelson, instead.

The error has damaged to the window and door frames at the Barrowford house which still has the metalwork attached.

On Tuesday, the correct house in Nelson had not been boarded up.

Lee Tombling, who lives in Walton Street, Barrowford, said: “It’s a bit embarrassing isn’t it? We’d been away and came back on Saturday morning to find these large metal boards on the doors and windows of number nine.

“Then we had a letter through the door telling us it was a mistake and the boards had been put on the wrong house.

“Our holiday was to Balmoral in Scotland but it was like coming back to Beirut.”

Even though in Pendle, Rossendale Council are the lead authority for housing standards for five boroughs and had instructed Orbit to carry out the work.

Both properties in question are empty and the council and contractor are working on a solution the situation.

A spokesman for Rossendale Council said: “We were boarding up to secure an empty property, the contractors went to the wrong Walton Street and boarded up the wrong empty property.

“We apologise for the inconvenience this has caused. The contractors have admitted responsibility for the error. We are working with the owner to rectify this, and they are now in the process of sorting this out with the contractor.”