A WOMAN who escaped a blaze, which started in a fuse box in her front room, is still waiting for essential work to be carried out before she can move back in to her home - almost eight months after the fire.

Margaret McCue was reading in the front room of her home in Pinewood Avenue, Padgate, when a power surge caused a fire to break out.

She managed to escape with her pet dog, but in just a few minutes the fire had spread through the front room, completely destroying electrical equipment and furniture.

As the intense heat spread throughout the ground floor, much of the kitchen furniture melted, while upstairs there was severe smoke damage.

A fire report of the incident states that on inspection, there was considerable damage to the main incoming fuse connection.

But because Mrs McCue's insurance ran out just a few days earlier, power supplier Manweb is liable only to pay for a percentage of the damage and she has been told that the company is not obliged to replace the full cost of any new furniture.

She has since contacted the energy ombudsman, but to no avail.

Since the fire, in February, Mrs McCue has been staying with family.

She said: "I just want to get back in my own house as it was before. It's never been explained to me why there was a power surge and what went wrong.

"The whole street felt the surge. They told me their lights started flickering and they felt a shudder seconds before the blaze."

She added: "Why should I accept this when I've worked hard all my life? Most of the stuff that was destroyed was new but they say they'll give me only half of what it's worth.

"They've even started to become insulting now, saying that any furniture would be in better condition than prior to the fire - but it was only 18 months old. It's just soul- destroying."

A Manweb spokesman said: "We are in discussion with Mrs McCue's loss assessors and we are awaiting information from them.

"When we have this we hope to be able to conclude this matter to her satisfaction."