A CASTLE family had to wait six months for a new back yard wall after street cleaners accidentally knocked down their old one.

Stephen Pugh and his family couldn't use the yard of their Romanes Street home during the six-month period because bricks and rubble from the wall had collapsed into it.

The Pughs contacted the Northwich Guardian after drawing a blank with Lancashire Waste Services, the contractors whose lorry reversed into the wall.

"We were just very angry because we couldn't seem to get an answer for that length of time," said Mr Pugh.

"We thought it should have been a very straightforward thing for them to come out and re-do it. But we just kept getting told that they had to wait for insurance people to sort it out.

"While it's been in this state, our youngster hasn't been able to play out there, and we were left wondering if it was ever going to be done."

After enquiries from the Guardian, and from Vale Royal Borough Council which oversees the contract, LWS contractors arrived last Saturday to fix the wall.

"I'm really pleased with it now," said Mr Pugh. "It just seems an awful lot of fuss to get something done which could have been sorted so much earlier."

Having fixed the wall, LWS were unavailable for comment.

Converted for the new archive on 13 March 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.