UPDATE: It's a hole lot of trouble from Leighton's burst main

A burst water main in Leighton Buzzard led to anger as two 'dangerous' holes were left uncovered and the road had to close.

A water main that burst in South Street on Wednesday, June 28, caused the road to close until Friday evening, but a worried resident was upset as Anglian Water treated him “poorly” and left two “uncovered, 6ft deep holes”.

Alfred Parker, 77, of Hockliffe Road, claimed: “My house only had small drips on Wednesday and I called Anglian Water at 9am that day to try and find out when the water would be back. A lady told me it would take six hours but it took far longer!

“I was also told that her manager would call me back but they didn’t and I was given another faulty number.

“On Thursday there were two holes in the ground at the top of South Street; I’m angry because this is dangerous - children could get past the cones and barriers!”

An Anglian Water spokeswoman said: “The team made the repair to the main on Wednesday night, completed at 9pm. 120 customers were affected.

“Despite the burst pipe, most customers still had some water coming through their taps, albeit with low pressure.

“We’re sorry that Mr Parker hasn’t received a call back from one of our managers. This isn’t in line with our usual high standards and we will arrange this as soon as possible.

“The road was resurfaced and reopened on Friday evening.

“Pipes can burst for a number of reasons such as ground movement, or temperature changes. There was no specific reason for this burst and no third party damage.

“We take health and safety extremely seriously. The barriers are weighted and linked together to secure the area and keep people away. The purple barriers clearly mark an active working area, which could contain deep holes or heavy machinery.”

Central Beds Council told the LBO it believed the holes were filled in on Saturday.