{"id":1005652,"date":"2026-06-04T21:32:28","date_gmt":"2026-06-04T21:32:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1005652\/"},"modified":"2026-06-04T21:32:28","modified_gmt":"2026-06-04T21:32:28","slug":"cracked-walls-and-gas-mains-cut-residents-fury-at-broadband-work-nightmare","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1005652\/","title":{"rendered":"Cracked walls and gas mains cut – residents’ fury at broadband work nightmare"},"content":{"rendered":"

‘We arrived home from holiday to find complete devastation on our road’\"Work<\/p>\n

Work by Grain Communications to install full-fibre broadband has been described as a nightmare by residents of Carrington Road in Ashton, South Bristol(Image: Bristol Post submitted)<\/p>\n

People living in a street in South Bristol have deluged a broadband company with complaints after enduring a nightmare 10 days since broadband workers started digging up their street.<\/p>\n

People living in Carrington Road in Ashton have compiled a long list of issues that began when Grain Communications arrived before the Whitsun Bank Holiday last week and began digging up their street.<\/p>\n

Residents say as well as the inconvenience of having pavements closed, their cars blocked in by fencing and loud noise, disruption and dust filling the street for a fortnight or more, the list of issues put together by residents goes much further.<\/p>\n

In emails and documents seen by Bristol Live, the residents\u2019 list includes a complaint that contractors cut through a gas pipe connection to one house, cut through the existing Virgin broadband and phone cable connecting to another house, and that the vibrations from machinery used to dig up the road and pavement was so intense that it has caused cracks to appear in some of the houses.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey did not warn most people in advance that this was about to happen – some residents got a letter through their door a day before,\u201d said one resident.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe arrived home from holiday to find complete devastation on our road. People report cut internet cables, cut gas mains, cracks in the houses from vibration, cars blocked in and completely dirty, front windows are covered in dust,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

\"Views<\/p>\n

Views of Carrington Road in Bristol Monday 1 June 2026, as street works are causing issues for residents(Image: PAUL GILLIS \/ Reach Plc)<\/p>\n

Some residents have contacted to complain to both Grain Communications and the MP for South Bristol, Karin Smyth, while others are coming together to mount a joint complaint against the communications firm.<\/p>\n

Grain Communications has a lengthy programme to bring full fibre broadband to much of Bristol, and a programme of installation that Bristol Live understands is to take years to complete.<\/p>\n

Initial street orders for the work on Carrington Road suggested that it would take only the last week of May, but the contractors were still in position earlier this week.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome people received a letter without any details of how disruptive or long the works will be a day before the works started,\u201d another resident said. \u201cSome people did not receive any letter at all.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe damages include extreme dirt and dust which will need to be cleaned up by residents. This includes cars, front windows, front gardens, bins, and houses themselves as the dust\/dirt from works is brought into the house,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cResidents with small children were not able to get out of the house with buggies at all as the pavement was blocked – again, no warning,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\"Work<\/p>\n

Work by Grain Communications to install full-fibre broadband has been described as a nightmare by residents of Carrington Road in Ashton, South Bristol(Image: Bristol Post submitted)<\/p>\n

Another resident has taken up the issue with his MP, and told Grain: \u201cThe largest issue is the drilling they did too close to my house caused severe vibrations to my house, which in turn caused cracks in our front bay windows and adjoining walls. This is unacceptable and is irreparable damage.\u201d<\/p>\n

Grain Communications said it appreciated their work could be inconvenient and apologised to residents for the disruption.<\/p>\n

\u201cGrain Communications works with third-party contractors to carry out the works, which we appreciate can be inconvenient for residents as they work on the public footpath, but the team strives to minimise the impact as they pass by each home,\u201d a spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

\"Work<\/p>\n

Work by Grain Communications to install full-fibre broadband has been described as a nightmare by residents of Carrington Road in Ashton, South Bristol(Image: Bristol Post submitted)<\/p>\n

\u201cResidents with any specific concerns can direct these to streetworks@graincommunications.co.uk along with any photos, and the team will work to find a resolution alongside the third-party contractor.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe initial works on Carrington Road have been reinstated, and the street has been cleaned. There is likely to be around one day of further works on the street at a later date to complete the infrastructure rollout. We apologise for the inconvenience experienced by residents,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"‘We arrived home from holiday to find complete devastation on our road’ Work by Grain Communications to install…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1005653,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[8818],"tags":[33936,10749,10139,381,10648,748,393,4884,9419,285,10002,53,16,15],"class_list":["post-1005652","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bristol","tag-ashton-gate","tag-bank-holiday","tag-bedminster","tag-bristol","tag-bristol-live","tag-britain","tag-england","tag-great-britain","tag-places","tag-politics","tag-south-bristol","tag-technology","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116693982769840700","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1005652","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1005652"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1005652\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1005653"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1005652"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1005652"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1005652"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}