A couple have been told they must foot the bill to repair a drain fractured by workmen underneath the pavement next to their home.
Salford council and United Utilties both say it is not their responsibility to fix the pipe which drains water from the front of Paul and Belinda Broomhead's Eccles house and was originally laid to prevent flooding. It is believed the pipe was broken some time in the past when other pipes and cables running across it were being laid underneath the pavement by unknown workmen.
The broken pipe was revealed when council contractors dug up the pavement on May 5 to investigate the source of flooding. The problem has halted the completion work to put block paving on the driveway of the Broomheads' Bradford Road, Ellesmere Park home.
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It has delayed matters for 11 weeks and there has been a gaping hole in the pavement outside the driveway, exposing several pipes and a telecoms cable running through where the drainage pipe should be. The severed ends of the broken pipe can be seen clearly.
"I don't see how Salford council and United Utilities can say it's our responsibility when the damage to the pipe didn't occur on our property," said retired businessman Paul, 65.
"Getting answers from Salford council over this has been very difficult and I feel like I've been mithering them for weeks."
Councillor Mike McCusker, Lead Member for Planning and Sustainable Development, said: “Both Salford City Council and United Utilities have investigated this problem to help Mr Broomhead.
"Our investigations show this is a private drain which does not connect to a public sewer and therefore, unfortunately, it is the resident’s responsibility.
"As the drain appears to have been cut by a telecoms cable, we have advised that he contact his insurance company to see if the work is covered by his insurance policy. I do appreciate that is not the response he was hoping for.”
A United Utilities spokesman said: "We’ve assisted the council with their investigations and established that the pipe in question doesn’t connect into our sewer network and so isn’t our responsibility to fix."
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