THE red light has been put on work to create a zebra crossing in Nelson after claims that it would make an 81-year-old disabled woman a prisoner in her own home.

Cheryl Cole said she had not been warned the crossing would be put down right outside her home in Barkerhouse Road.

It would mean she could no longer park her car outside her house or take her mother Agnes Green, who can only walk four steps at a time, out for trips.

"The first thing I knew about a zebra crossing was when they started work on it," said Mrs Cole. "I'm angry that I wasn't told about it." Mrs Cole said she could not use the back door because there were steps leading to it and would have to park further away in streets where there were already parking problems.

She told Nelson councillors: "Further up the road there are double yellow lines. Why didn't you put it there? There would be no objections because people can't park there anyway. Because you didn't bother to inform me, my mother's a prisoner in her own home."

Councillor Colin Waite admitted that because of an oversight by another authority, notification of the work was not sent out.

He promised the matter would be looked at to see if a solution to Mrs Cole's problem could be found.

"No more work will be done on the crossing until the residents have been consulted," he said.

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