A GWENT school teacher is facing financial ruin after claiming she had to bulldoze her dream home over fears it could collapse.

Sara Thomas, 32, says she is facing a £100,000 bill to rebuild her dormer bungalow after fearing it could have collapsed.

She says she had to reduce the £160,000 bungalow in Beaufort Hill, Ebbw Vale, to rubble for safety reasons after discovering it was built on top of a 15in diameter steelworks water pipe.

Miss Thomas bought the 43-year-old property 14 months ago. The pipe was discovered during work to build an extension. It was directly underneath the foundations and bearing some of the weight of the house. Work was immediately stopped and architects Peter Barnes Associates said work could not proceed with the original foundations.

Miss Thomas feared if the pipe fractured it could erode the foundations and wash the building away and decided demolition was the only option. Her insurance did not cover the cost of the work and she believes Blaenau Gwent council should bear some responsibility.

It is claimed the inspector who approved the construction of the original bungalow in 1962, failed to disclose it was being built on top of a water pipe.

But a council spokeswoman said yesterday: "There is not a problem with houses being built over water feeder pipes, so