Last updated at 17:02, Wednesday, 22 August 2012

A DISTRAUGHT business owner claims call centre staff sent a fire engine 3.5 miles in the wrong direction as her well-known shop was left to burn.

RUINED: The shop run by Susan Dargavel at Roanhead that has been damaged by fire

Shortly before 4.15am yesterday Susan Dargavel, woke to find her business – the shop at Roanhead car park, near Barrow – ablaze.

She called the fire service but said call centre staff failed to understand the location of the shop.

Mrs Dargavel, a retired secretary, was left heartbroken as she watched the business she has run for six years go up in flames.

She said: “I heard a very noisy car speed away – I woke up and I could hear the flames and see sparks.

“I dialled 999 but the fire brigade went to the wrong address.

“They kept saying ‘is it Roanhead Lane?’ and I said ‘no, if you try Sandscale Haws you will be able to find it’.

“The officers said there would be an investigation into this.”

Mrs Dargavel said a shop had been at the site since around 1948 and she believed, originally, the shop had been a former pay booth from the ironworks in Barrow.

The shop provided snacks for summer visitors to the beaches and dunes at Roanhead and Sandscale.

Mrs Dargarvel added: “I just can’t get my head around it.

“It really is a shame, I loved it.

“Fishermen used to come across for their cups of tea, young families would come in – it had a history.

“You don’t get that kind of shop anymore.

“I would like to think I’ll be able to reopen. I am hoping to be back in summer next year.”

Ade Kevern, Fire Brigade’s Union secretary for the Cumbria force, said: “We had a team of trained fire control staff.

“They lived in the area and understood it.

“The problem we’ve got is we have excellent staff in Cheshire who are used to dealing with the circumstances in Cheshire but unfortunately have additional work, through no fault of their own. Something has to give.”

Barrow police would like to speak to anyone with information about the fire, particularly the driver of a vehicle which was heard accelerating from the scene at around 4.15am.

A Cumbria Fire and Rescue Service spokesman said: “With all fire incidents our call-handlers require the caller to give a certain amount of detail to enable them to deploy appliances as rapidly and accurately as possible.

“With this particular incident, initial details of exactly where the fire had broken out were unclear so more accurate information had to be sought from the caller and the crews on the ground after they were dispatched – this does occur on occasions.

“The fact that this call was answered from our new control centre had no impact on the time taken for the appliance to reach its destination – the issue was a lack of accurate information detailing the exact location of the incident.

“We are investigating the exact circumstances surrounding this incident, and this includes listening to recordings of the conversations between our control staff and members of the public. Clearly it is vital that our call-handlers are given as much detail as possible when emergencies are reported.”

First published at 16:38, Wednesday, 22 August 2012
Published by http://www.nwemail.co.uk