AN OUT-of-control digger careered down a Colne back street damaging properties on the way.

Residents of Cliff Street were counting the cost today after the machine cracked walls and even took the roof off one couple's shed.

Adam and Vikki Bowater, of Cliff Street, said it was lucky their little girl Katie was not playing in the garden when chunks of stone were sent flying by the machine which had been doing work nearby.

Vikki said: "It came skidding down the back of the street. We couldn't believe what we were seeing.

"If it had been summer Katie would have been outside and if kids see a JCB they are always interested so she would have been out there having a look."

The digger was using the back street to access a building site at the back of Wackersall Road. It skidded into the back walls of five houses in Cliff Street then into the back wall of a house on Wackersall Road.

The owner, Kathleen Whitaker, said: "The wall's got a big crack across it and it needs rebuilding.

"I was in the house when it happened. I saw it going up and then it came back down and seemed to fly round and hit the wall."

Police went to the scene on Sunday at 4pm but are not expected to take any action.

A spokesman said: "A JCB had caused damage to some properties. It appears to have lost control on some cobbles."

Waterside councillor Tony Greaves visited the scene yesterday afternoon and is calling on Pendle Borough Council to act as the "residents' 'friend" and try to sort out the situation.

He said: "The back yard wall is cracked at 4 Cliff Street, part of the wall, gate jamb and half the shed has been demolished at number 6, there's a scrape along the wall at number 8, the skid marks on the pavement show where the JCB went.

"Part of the wall has been demolished at number 10 and the rest is cracked and seems unstable and there's damage to the wall by the gate at number 12. The back wall of 5 Wackersall Road is cracked and seems unstable. There may be other damage we did not notice."

Coun Greaves has contacted the council's executive director for services, John Kirk, to ask if officers can check the stability of the cracked back walls on Cliff Street and contact the developer about the work and access to the site.

The contractor was today unavailable for comment.