UPDATE: Leighton's South Street to reopen this evening now burst water main is fixed

The water main that burst in Leighton Buzzard’s South Street on Wednesday was repaired but the road hasn’t been able to reopen until this evening, as it was being resurfaced.

A Tweet posted on Wednesday afternoon by Central Bedfordshire Council Highways, read: “Central Emergency road closure: South St #LeightonBuzzard due to a burst water main. Expected to reopen in 3 days.”

However, although the burst main was repaired overnight on Wednesday, one resident is still concerned by his treatment from Anglian Water.

Alfred Parker, 77, of Hockliffe Road, claimed: “I spotted water running down South Street about a week ago.

“My house didn’t have water on Wednesday - there were only small drips - and I called Anglian Water at 9am 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 number to call that didn’t work.”

An Anglian Water spokeswoman said: “The team made the repair on Wednesday night, completed at 9pm, so everyone should be back on the water now. 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 of customer service and we will arrange this for him as soon as possible.

“The repair was left with our safety barriers around it while the ground settled, before the road could be resurfaced.

“The road is being resurfaced today and once the tarmac has set, the road will be fully reopened later today.

“We’re sorry for an inconvenience caused by the work to repair a burst main on South Street in Leighton Buzzard earlier this week. Our engineers worked to repair the burst pipe on Wednesday and return our customers’ water supply back to normal. The road will reopen this evening.”

However, Anglian Water were unsure of the cause of the burst main.

The spokeswoman continued: “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.”

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