AN elderly couple say no-one on their street was pre-warned about disruptive road works despite a gas company claiming residents were visited by its representatives and sent letters.

Pat and Roger Hughes, of Sansome Place, Worcester, were shocked to discover there would be road closures and temporary traffic lights in place for six weeks from yesterday (January 7).

Gas network Cadent are replacing four metallic pipes with new long-lasting plastic ones in two phases of work across Sansome Walk and later Sansome Place and Lion Court.

The latter two streets run directly off Sansome Walk, meaning all residents will be immediately impacted.

The company, which sent out a press release on Friday (January 4) about the works, just days before they were set to begin, claimed all affected residents were informed weeks ago.

Mrs Hughes, 82, is part of an email group with residents on her street and said many only learned about the work through the group in the last few days.

“Nobody had a visit or a letter,” said the pensioner, who has lived in the street for 10 years.

“This will upset a lot of people – they said all of us had a visit and a letter, but this is not true. We didn’t have anything, nobody did.”

She said: “I hope nobody is hearing about this for the first time in the paper, it is very unprofessional.

“People need to be able to get their cars out for work and if they didn’t know about it, how could they plan ahead?

“They’re waking up for work this morning and finding their route is shut off.”

She said herself and husband Roger, 80, do have a car but do also use taxis to get around, but she feared they would struggle to reach them.

This would result in them staying in or having to walk some distance up the road, away from the works.

Cadent claims residents of Sansome Walk, Sansome Place and Lion Court were visited by customer teams in November and December and have also had letters explaining the need for this work.

A Cadent spokesman said the company arranged for letters to go out to every property on Sansome Place and other streets directly impacted while a team member would visit the Hughes sometime on Monday.

The company has said its planners have worked closely with Worcestershire County Council to agree the timing of this work and the temporary traffic changes that need to be enforced.

Phase one, from January 7 to January 28: Sansome Walk will be closed from the junction with Pierpoint Street to the junction with Sansome Place, with a diversion in place.

Phase two, from January 28 to February 18: the teams then move into Lion Court/Sansome Place with traffic lights in place to guided motorists around the work area.