Virgin Media engineers 'cut off home'

The house was surrounded by barriers and a trench

A home in the north-west of England has been cut off by roadworks carried out by Virgin Media as part of its super-fast broadband rollout.

David Henshall told the Manchester Evening News that he came home from work and "found they had barricaded my wife and daughter inside".

He emailed pictures of the work to Virgin Media chief executive Tom Mockridge.

The firm apologised for the inconvenience.

In a statement it said: "Virgin Media expects the very highest standards of work from all its contractors. We will be discussing the matter with the contractors as a matter of urgency."

The home in Bolton was completely surrounded by fencing which in turn protected a newly-dug trench.

"My wife informs me that the workmen left at 2pm with no thought to the fact she could not move her car from our drive and it is stuck now," he told the paper.

The incident does not appear to be an isolated one. On the Virgin Media community website, a member complained last month that workmen "have dug right across the driveway", blocking in a car and covering it in dust.

Another asked this week: "I am trying to find out who to speak to about Virgin laying cables and constantly digging up the road, then making a mess."

In February 2015, Virgin Media announced that it was to invest £3bn in improving its cable broadband service, increasing its network's reach from 13 million to 17 million homes.