Water works put dampener on chef’s plan for dream car
ACHEF who spent 10 years working on his beloved sports car couldn’t drive it after a huge hole was left outside his garage by workers.
Peter Froud, 41, spent £10,000 to soup up his “pride and joy” sports car ready for summer days out.
But he couldn’t drive it after a gaping hole and mounds of bricks were left just 3ft away from his shiny orange dream car.
It was stuck inside for six days as the hole was dug right outside his garage door by Welsh Water staff.
For the past decade Peter has been working on his orange, silver and black Ford Cougar which also has a personalised F7 OUD number plate.
He travels the country in his car and is even a member of the UkCougar club.
But when he returned home to take his wheels for a spin, he was greeted with the scene of destruction in Glebe Street in Barry.
Peter said: “I had been on holiday in the Peak District and came home to find the huge hole. I got straight on the phone to complain. I have had the car for nearly 10 years. I bought it totally standard and I have spent around £10,000 on it turning it into what it is today.
“The list of what has been done to it is very extensive to be fair. It is a total one-off and turns heads everywhere when I am out in it for sure.”
Peter bought the car for £1,300 in August 2008, but has since kitted it out with a new engine and custom upholstered ivory seats.
The car was trapped for six days in total and Peter made an official complaint to Welsh Water over the lack of warning.
He added: “The ‘fill team’ turned up so I went and spoke to them. It seems that the ‘dig team’ do this kind of thing all the time and this is an ongoing issue.”
The work had been carried out to stop a water leak in the street.
Peter says he has now been offered £100 compensation, which he plans to donate to local charity Ty Hafan – a children’s hospice.
A Welsh Water spokeswoman said: “After discovering a leak on a water pipe, we attended the area to replace a section of the pipe.
“We usually give our customers advanced warning of our work and we apologise to Mr Froud that this did not happen on this occasion.
“We were keen to resolve this issue as soon as possible. We covered the area to allow Mr Froud access to his garage and fully reinstated the area.
“Our customers are our top priority and we apologise if any inconvenience was caused to Mr Froud.”