THE upgrade of a substation in Mitcheldean has sparked fury among residents after work was repeatedly cancelled.

Central Networks had arranged to cut power to homes around Old Dean Road on December 1, then on January 14, but both times the work was cancelled.

John Tandy, who lives on Deans Way Road, said that most residents had made arrangements to go and stay with someone as they would have had no heating.

"On the second occasion I saw the workmen standing by the trench and went out to ask them what was going on," said John.

"They said they had a problem because there was an unidentified cable in the trench. But they had dug the hole about a fortnight ago so they had plenty of time to figure it out.

"It's going to cost people in their electricity bills because they sent pamphlets out telling people to turn their freezers up to maximum power the night before they were due to cut the power. I tried calling Central Networks but I gave up after spending 25 minutes in a call queue."

Central Networks spokesman Rebecca Mara said: "The first scheduled work was cancelled as the correct parts did not arrive in time.

"The work was then delayed because of the weather, and again because information on a database regarding the location of the cables was inaccurate. The team apologise for the delays - this is not a typical example of our work."