Workmen wreck wrong house

Builders admit they knocked down the wrong house

Bungling builders reduced a Cumbrian family's home to rubble instead of the dilapidated house they were supposed to demolish.

Rosalie Beatty watched in disbelief as her house in Workington was smashed to the ground.

Contractors were supposed to demolish another house 500 yards away in another street, but set to work on Mrs Beatty's home - without checking they had the right address.

Thomas Armstrong Construction Ltd admits they got it wrong, but Mrs Beatty is considering legal action.

The house where they were meant to be is across a field and in another street

Rosalie Beatty

Workmen had been contracted to demolish two houses in Barfs Road, but ended up in Kilnside and took Mrs Beatty's home apart.

The house was empty as the diggers moved in to demolish it.

Mrs Beatty rushed home after a neighbour told her that workmen had started knocking it down.

Mrs Beatty moved out of the house in 2001 to live in a nearby property, but kept her old home for sentimental reasons.

'Stupid mistake'

"I'm absolutely devastated.

"How can they make a mistake like that? The house where they were meant to be is across a field and in another street.

"I admit that nobody has lived in there for a long time but it wasn't that run down.

"My family spent over a decade living in that house and it's just been knocked down because of a stupid mistake. I'm very, very upset by all this."

A spokesman for Armstrong Construction Ltd said: "The work we were contracted to carry out was the demolition of 69 and 70 Barfs Road, which were part of a larger demolition project being undertaken on the estate.

Legal action

"Unfortunately, the demolition sub-contractor mistook the site because of the dilapidated state of the house.

"Thomas Armstrong Ltd and the demolition sub-contractor accept responsibility for the mistake."

Mrs Beatty is considering legal action against the firm over the demolition of the house, said to be worth about £20,000, if it does not offer her a settlement.

David Fisher, of Home Housing, the organisation responsible for council houses in Workington, said: "We did want an adjoining house demolished, but only if Mrs Beatty had agreed to sell us hers first.

"We accepted that she wasn't willing to sell it and left it at that. We don't force our will upon people."