A fire service log has been blamed after a regional daily’s mistake about the location of a house fire sparked a complaint to the press watchdog.

A woman living in the Cumbrian village of Heads Nook complained to the Independent Press Standards Organisation after the Carlisle News & Star reported on a “house fire” at her address.

Complaining under Clause 1 (Accuracy) of the Editors’ Code of Practice, the woman, who was unnamed in IPSO’s report of the complaint, said fire crews had not attended her home and there had been no fire there.

Accepting the inaccuracy, the News & Star said the error was based on a misunderstanding of the fire service’s log, which said that the fire occurred at a domestic property on an access road leading to her property.

It removed the story to address her concerns, but she said this was not sufficient to resolve her complaint.

After IPSO began an investigation, the News & Star offered to run a correction in print, as well as its Newsquest sister publication The Cumberland News.

The woman said that this would resolve the matter to her satisfaction.

IPSO therefore discontinued its investigation, and the full resolution statement can be read here.