Retired Rutland teacher claims she was stuck at home during week-long National Grid works in Crocket Lane, Empingham

A retired teacher claims she was stuck in her house after electricity works blocked her access.

Caroline Meyrick says there was no sign work would be taking place in Crocket Lane, Empingham, until crews arrived on March 31.

The 80-year-old left the village at 10am to meet a friend for coffee but when she returned a couple of hours later the access to her house, where she lives with husband Nicholas, was blocked off.

Caroline says she is ‘really cross’ that there were no signs or notices warning residents of the works.

She added: “We’ve not been able to get out, we’ve been stuck. It’s been really frustrating.

“If somebody had told us this was going to happen we could have worked around it.

“It’s a total lack of consideration.”

Caroline left her car with a neighbour and walked home. Later when she tried to leave by foot she claims workers warned her not to breach the road closure.

The retired mathematics teacher spent a spell in hospital over the winter and had a number of trips to accident and emergency, further fuelling her concerns about the lack of access.

“My mobility is poor as a result of a chronic autoimmune condition,” she said.

“If either of us needed an ambulance we would have problems - as would any other emergency vehicle.”

She added that the works caused noise issues and an increase in dust, as well as made an ‘indescribably mess to the already pitted road’.

Work was completed on Monday (April 7) and is part of a project to connect a new electricity supply in Empingham.

According to a National Grid spokesperson, although road access was restricted so that work could be carried out safely, access was not completely blocked.

They added: “We appreciate the community’s patience during this work to meet new and future demand on the electricity network.

“Please call us on 105 if you want to find out more about any work we’re carrying out.”

A Rutland County Council spokesperson refuted the claims that no notice was given, and said advance warning signs were put in place two weeks before the start of the closure.

The spokesperson added: “All residents would have had access throughout the closure and emergency vehicles legally have to be provided with access at all times.

“All emergency services within our area would have also received the Temporary Traffic Regulation Order information and know it was in place one month prior, as is the normal procedure.”