Damages call after builder's blunder

The damage was caused by house builders who accidentally cut into a cable in Iveston, near Consett.

The fire brigade was called after at least two televisions began to spark and smoke. One pensioner has been without heating for several days.

Now a number of residents are due to meet with Homeside Construction's insurance company on Tuesday, to discuss compensation.

Workers building five houses in the village cut into the cable while completing work on the village green on Sunday afternoon.

Ordinarily, the electricity supply would have had an automatic cut-out, but that did not happen and residents suffered a power surge.

A 76-year-old man, who asked not to be named, said he had had no heating since the incident caused his boiler to fail.

His home insurers are footing the bill for £3,000 of work to his home.

Firefighters were called to two homes to make them safe after electrical sparks jumped out of television sets and they began to smoke.

Other families had a number of electrical appliances destroyed and one toaster was reported to have jumped across a kitchen. A transformer pole in the village also caught fire.

Villager William Forster, 74, said nearly everyone in the village appeared to have been affected.

He said: "It wasn't so bad for us because we turned off everything straight away but I know there are other people who had a lot of damage and are upset about the whole thing."

Terry McGiven, owner of Homeside Construction, of Durham City, apologised for any distress but said it was an accident. He had passed the matter on to his company's insurer, which was meeting a number of residents and it was now out of his hands, he said.

Sub officer Colin Wheatley, of Consett fire station, said the worst was over by the time the fire engine arrived at the scene.

No one was available for comment from Northern Electric yesterday.