A furious pensioner was barricaded inside his own home after bungling workmen dug a trench in his garden and driveway.<br /><br />Frank Farmer, 67, was woken up to the sound of diggers tearing up his lawn and patio outside his home in the village of Claines near Worcester.<br /><br />Contractors working on behalf of Cadent Gas told the retired police officer they were searching for old pipes which needed replacing.<br /><br />Frank, who has lived in the house his whole life, then watched in horror as workmen used a sledgehammer to smash up flag stones his dad had laid in the 1960s.<br /><br />The pensioner was left with a 3ft deep trench surrounding his home after workmen spent the day digging up his property on May 26 this year.<br /><br />Frank said: “I woke up and heard someone outside and when I questioned them they said they were digging the gas pipe up. <br /><br />“I said that there’s no gas pipe there, and that it’s the mains line. <br /><br />“They kept digging but couldn't actually trace the pipe work. That resulted in the excavation of the entire driveway. <br /><br />“They still couldn’t find the pipework. There was no care taken over it, it was a just a shoddy work. <br /><br />“They were actually digging my lawn up, without telling me. <br /><br />"There was a large trench around my house trapping me inside.<br /><br />“In front of my garage I had a series of flag stones that my father put down years ago <br />and they just smashed them up. <br /><br />“Instead of lifting the flagstones up gently, they just smashed them up. <br /><br />“I remember my dad putting the flagstones down in 1964 and he was thrilled to bits as he was making an improvement to the house. <br /><br />“They're irreplaceable, they just smashed them with sledgehammers and replaced them with concrete.”<br /><br />Frank said the only notification he received was from Cadent Gas last November informing residents they would be “working in the area”.<br /><br />He said: “I had no idea my driveway and garden would be turned into a deep trench or muddy moat. It’s a disgrace.”<br /><br />After the pipe work was completed, workmen filled in the whole with recycled gravel which Frank says included sharp screws on his driveway.<br /><br />He said: “It’s just been blunder after blunder. Not only did they dig a great big hole in my driveway, but they filled it in with material which could quite easily puncture the tyres of my car.<br /><br />“It was chaos, I couldn’t get into my garage. They dug right in front my two garages, then extended the trench right down my driveway.”<br /><br />He has since been quoted £1,600 by a landscaping company to return his garden to the way it looked before workmen dug it up.<br /><br />Cadent have since apologised to Frank for the damage to his garden and driveway.<br />Elliott Nelson, director of Cadent in the West Midlands, said: “We've investigated this <br />matter and can confirm that the service we provided fell below the standards we expect from Cadent. <br /><br />“We have taken learnings from this and have spoken to Mr Farmer and apologised for any distress this matter has caused. <br /><br />"Our teams are keeping in close contact with him throughout the remainder of the works to ensure a positive resolution.”
