A FURIOUS householder today made a last ditch plea for help as she feared for the future of her home and neighbours after the pavement outside collapsed.

Margaret Whittaker, of Coal Clough Lane, Burnley, said a huge hole outside her home developed after water company United Utilities carried out some work nearby.

She said the pavement collapsed and the front of her home had to be propped up but nothing can be done to resolve the situation until Burnley Council and United Utilities decide who is responsible.

Meanwhile neighbours in the area are terrified someone will fall into the gaping hole and be hurt.

Mrs Whittaker, 64, who moved in last January, today demanded action be taken.

She said: "We don't know who is responsible. Nobody has owned up, but somebody needs to before the house falls down.

"It happened all of a sudden, I went into town and when I came back the pavement had sunk. Then the next morning it had fallen away completely.

"There was some work being done about 20 yards up by United Utilities and a little while after the area was fenced it off and workmen shored up the front part of the house because it had ripped away.

"They told me to contact my insurers, but that was the last I heard. When it rains water pours down into it, it can't be good for the foundations."

Mrs Whittaker said the street was built over an old pit and the ground was riddled with shafts. She said when it rains water gushes into the hole and under the foundations.

The hole has also stopped one of her neighbours using her front door and caused concern for the others on the street.

Lily Wearing, 73, who lives in Coal Clough Lane, said: "Will they only do something when somebody breaks their leg or kills themselves?

"The cage fills the whole pavement and people have to go onto the road. It's really dangerous the traffic fly down this road and it's just a matter of time until somebody is killed. There's an elderly lady with a stick that I have to help every time she comes this way.

"I had trouble with a drain at the back, you could hear all this water rushing down, it was like a burst. United Utilities came round and said it wasn't but I think it was because a little later this happened, the two are connected and you'll not tell me otherwise."

A spokesperson for United Utilities said she could not say when the problem would be fixed because the firm was still investigating the problem.

"It turns out that the problem is subsidence outside this particular house and although we were working a bit further up this road it has not been caused by us.

"Burnley Council has been up there and carried out some excavations and we are liaising with them to find out what the problem is and who is responsible."

Duncan Reeve, engineering manager at Burnley Council, said: "We asked United Utilities to check because they were working up there and there was a water leak.

"They denied all responsibility but when we lifted the manhole cover on the junction of Howard Street there was water pouring into the sewer.

"We provided them with video evidence but they are still denying that the water was flowing into the sewer.

"The worry is that we fear that one void could turn into several under that footpath, which is the worst case scenario."