ELDERLY residents of a council-run nursing home, who were left snowed in, were told they shouldn’t be going out in the snow anyway.

The claim was made by Carol Hopkins, whose 76-year-old mother Marjorie Dalton is a resident at Cole Green House, in Hyde Valley, WGC.

She contacted the WHT to complain after speaking to Welwyn Hatfield Council’s welfare services department about a lack of safe access to the complex’s 81 flats and bungalows.

She said: “They [the council] said ‘residents shouldn’t be going out when there are Met Office warnings’.”

Mrs Hopkins also said residents at the complex went out and cleared a path themselves.

But the council disputed the claims.

A spokeswoman for the borough council said: “Serco went on to snow clearance and Cole Green House was cleared by 3pm yesterday [December 21].

“My information is that Serco cleared it so there shouldn’t have been any need for residents to clear it.”

She added: “We take the safety and welfare of out old people very seriously.” And speaking about the suggestion people should not be going out in the severe weather, she said: “We’re not in the business of imprisoning people.

“We’d encourage everyone to take their own welfare and safety seriously.”