HOLE LOT OF TROUBLE FOR WATER FIRM

SEVERN TRENT TO BE HIT WITH £3,000 FINE FOR REPAIR DELAYS WHICH CAUSED TRAFFIC CHAOS

A WATER firm is in a ‘hole’ lot of trouble and is being hit with a £3,000 fine for not making quick repairs to a busy Nuneaton road.

Warwickshire County Council will be penalising Severn Trent Water for the nightmare caused by the delay in fixing a hole in Hinckley Road.

In a post on Facebook, St Nicolas ward councillor Rob Tromans said: “I can confirm that WCC Highways have issued Severn Trent with a £3,000 fine.

“I am also assured by councillor Jeff Clarke that a further fine will be issued if necessary.”

It follows huge frustration from motorists and householders alike who were hit by the closure of part of Hinckley Road.

The road was first closed on Friday following a burst water main but engineers managed to fix the leak by Saturday.

Despite restoring water back to customers, the road remained closed on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday morning while works took place to repair the hole.

This caused yet more traffic woes in the already congested area, with queues in the St Nicolas Park area during rush hour on both days.

The road was finally reopened yesterday afternoon.

Ward councillor Keith Kondakor claimed that up to 17,000 people had been hit by the road closure, just after the bridge close to the new Lidl store, on Friday.

While Severn Trent had an official permit to carry out the works until Tuesday, Cllr Kondakor said that the firm had every opportunity for it to be fixed beforehand and stop the resulting road chaos - but did not – and deserved to be fined.

The comments were echoed by Cllr Tromans, who added: “It was disappointing that Severn Trent reneged on their promise to re-open the road on Monday.”