A COUNTY Durham farmer this week re-lived traumatic foot-and-mouth experiences as she told a public hearing of days of suffering her family and animals endured.

Irene Whitfield of Hedleyhope Farm, Tow Law, said restrictions meant they could not feed their 400 sheep for two days before culling and 800 cattle went unfed for five days because of delays in their slaughter.

When they tried to notify the then Ministry of Agriculture of foot-and-mouth on the farm, all they got was an answering machine.

A duty vet rang back four hours later and said they were in a queue. It was not until three days later, after they contacted the media, that a vet arrived - but he was an American and immediately confessed to knowing nothing about sheep.

Mrs Whitfield told her harrowing story to a meeting of the Lessons Learned Inquiry, chaired by Dr Iain Anderson, at Newcastle Civic Centre, on Tuesday night.

"The sheep were crawling around by then; they were in a terrible state and under other circumstances we would probably have been prosecuted," said Mrs Whitfield.

The vet arrived late in the morning but said there was no point in ringing MAFF until after 2pm, because they would be at lunch.

The diagnosis was finally confirmed over the phone and the sheep and cattle had to be slaughtered.

But only one slaughterman arrived, and he said he would not be there the next day as he had a wedding to go to.

Mrs Whitfield asked Dr Anderson how that could be. The family could not leave the premises - were even prevented from feeding the livestock - but the slaughterman could travel around.

She and her husband had to round up the sheep, many of which were lambing, for slaughter.

It was five days later before the cattle were slaughtered. "They were bellowing in the fields, they were hungry and in an appalling condition," said Mrs Whitfield.

Once the cull was over the family was "abandoned" for four weeks. "No-one told us what to do or anything," she said.

They had been ordered to destroy all of their produce, worth about £17,000, but an official later said they could not be reimbursed because they had nothing in writing.

An Ebchester farmer said his housed cattle were dealt with efficiently.

"But those in outlying fields were there for two days and were not fed because I could not leave the premises. That was disgraceful," he said. "I had farmed for 40 years and it was the first time my animals had not been fed."

He too complained of being left with no contact and no idea what to do. If there was a future outbreak, he believed Defra should issue information pamphlets to farmers.

A farmer who escaped foot-and-mouth told of his horror when an official dealing with the disease arrived at his farm gate in dirty clothing - he had got the wrong farm.

Other reports of poor bio-security among slaughtermen and with lorries used to take carcases away were also given. Several watched with fear as the disease spread along the routes taken by the lorries.

Several speakers said that, to cap it all, the Government had turned round and blamed farmers for spreading the disease.

But some of the strongest criticism and accusations came from councillors and residents' representatives from Tow Law who said the Inkerman disposal site had been foisted upon them.

Wear Valley district councillor John Lethbridge said they received more information from newspapers and individuals living close to the site than they did from MAFF.

He spoke of the "extraordinarily poor public relations and arrogant attitude" of MAFF officials towards the residents and council. As a result they had alienated themselves from the locals.

The council had the strong impression that rules were made up as things developed - there was no emergency plan in place.

Frank Carrington from Castle Morpeth, who sat on the foot-and-mouth inquiry carried out by Northumberland County Council, said: "The evidence we have heard from the two farmers is what we heard over and over again. It is very, very harrowing."

MAFF had rejected the offer from Northumberland police to operate a control centre.

"I am convinced Northumberland and the North-East suffered because the war against foot-and-mouth was being controlled from Carlisle," he said. "Things did improve when we had Kenton Bar, but even then there was confusion until the Army came in."

He confirmed MAFF's lack of communication with local authorities. "The whole thing has been a sorry, sad and devastating event for the North-East."

James Grant, another Northumberland county councillor, believed a national emergency should have been declared so the Army would have been involved earlier.

He said the Government had not made a declaration because it had wanted to win the general election.

Another speaker from Tow Law described the "total contempt" officials showed towards local people and local authorities.

"We may live in the hills sir, but there is nothing wrong with our brainpower," he told Dr Anderson. "We have been treated with contempt all the time."

Villagers had been physically sick in the street from the stench of rotting carcases and schoolchildren had endured the sickening smell.

He was concerned that Dr Anderson's report would go "to the very people who presided over the disaster" but Dr Anderson assured him that his report, which will go to the Prime Minister and Secretary of State, would be available to the public.

Dr Anderson said the reports he had heard at the meeting had been repeated at other meetings he had held in foot-and-mouth-hit areas.

His report should be published in the middle of the year, although urgent interim findings could be issued earlier.

Dr Anderson visited Northumberland on Tuesday and County Durham on Wednesday, including Tow Law and Raby Castle