A PENSIONER claims a large hole outside his home has been left uncovered for three weeks - but contractors say they have replaced wooden boards five times because of theft.

Disabled Bartholomew Canavan has had to park his car away from his front door on Rectory Road, Burnley, after contractors for North West Water dug and 8ft by 3ft hole.

Mr Canavan, 76, said: "The barriers that have been put around the hole are continually falling down, but what frightens me is the steel plates sticking up.

"A small child can easily get underneath the barrier and could be badly injured on the metal that is jutting out of the hole."

Since the Lancashire Evening Telegraph contacted John Kennedy civil engineers, steel plates have been placed over the hole.

The barriers have also been secured.

Site agent Michael Timlin said: "We can't put timber over the hole because people keep stealing it and I will be surprised if the steel plates are still there at the weekend.

"This is the last stage in a contract to replace all the cast-iron 16in water mains in Burnley. The problem is we do not know exactly what we are dealing with until we dig down and find the main.

"The contract, worth millions of pounds, involves work being carried out all over East Lancashire and when we finish here, we will be moving on to Colne."

He stressed the work would be completed by May 5.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.