Cars trapped in driveways as road in Cornwall village of Probus dug up without warning

Residents who work nights said they couldn't to get back onto their property after the trenches were dug. Credit: BPM Media

Residents in a village in Cornwall say they were essentially left trapped after their road was dug up with no warning.

Contractors working to install superfast broadband arrived at Carne View Road in Probus, near Truro, without warning on Friday 13 October.

Residents say they woke up to the sound of jackhammers the next morning before discovering trenches had been dug at the end of their properties.

The holes in the road meant people’s cars were trapped on their driveways for much of the day.

Cornwall councillor Karen Glasson admits there have been some problems with contractors. Credit: BPM Media

Andrew Willson, who lives on the road, said: “We didn't receive any fliers through the door. There was no signage, nothing. They just arrived and started blocking the road and cutting it open.”

He described the situation as “chaos’, adding: “Some of the contractors drove over people's lawns. But when we confronted them all they did was laugh it off."

People were eventually given ramps to drive over the cabling trenches at around 2pm.

Resident work up to the sound of jackhammers but had no idea why. Credit: BPM Media

The work was being done on behalf of Liskeard-based firm Wildanet, which has since apologised for the incident.

The firm’s deputy CEO Justin Clark said: “We have a commitment to working closely with communities during the build and whenever we start work in a local area or individual street we write to residents in advance, explaining exactly what we are going to do, when we are going to be working and providing a named contact should there be any questions or issues.

Some residents do not understand why superfast broadband is being installed as they already have access to it. Credit: BPM Media

“Unfortunately, this didn’t happen in the case of some properties in Probus and we would like to apologise to residents for this mistake and for the inconvenience caused.”

Work on site has been paused while the firm investigates what happened. A drop-in session is now set to take place at Probus Village Hall on Tuesday 24 October.