A burst pipe, black ice and a closed road: Wolverhampton water repair work branded a 'shambles'

The broken pipe left people in Wednesfield having to cope with low water pressure, a road closure and dangerous black ice yesterday.

Gallons of water could be seen gushing from the pipe in Deans Road, near the traffic lights for the Wolverhampton Road junction, where sandbags were in place to try and control the flow of the water.

Water has been leaking on the road for more than a month according to residents, but Severn Trent only began fixing the pipe last weekend.

The water company said supply in WV10 and WV11 was back to normal this morning, but the road remains closed.

Yesterday several passers-by, including an elderly pensioner, found themselves drenched and on the deck after slipping on black ice caused by freezing overnight temperatures.

No signs for pedestrians were in place in either direction, while motorists also faced delays as the northbound lane was closed to traffic between the Wolverhampton Road and Deansfield Road junctions.

Retired engineer John Corbett, aged 87, from East Park, slipped over in the icy water.

He said: "I'm soaked through. It's an absolute shambles. It's been going on for ages now. It doesn't tell you where to go or anything. I could have been hurt, luckily I'm just a bit wet."

Amy Martin-Collins, 18, who lives nearby in Wednesfield, watched her pal take a tumble.

She said: "I just said to my friend shall I go for a swim just joking, but then she fell straight over in it.

"It was funny but it is a health and safety issue. It needs to be sorted out, it's been going on too long now.

"I last went past here on Friday and it was like this. The sandbags weren't there but loads of water was still coming out."

And Liam Knott, 33, said: "I don't know why it's taking so long to fix. The water has been running for ages, not just since last Friday. You pay your water bill and expect these things to be fixed.

"It can't take that long to fix a broken pipe. I've seen lots of people slipping as well so it needs to be repaired quickly."

Severn Trent apologised for the delay in repairing the pipe and said the road would be back open by the end of the week.

A spokesman from the company added: "Unfortunately due to the location of the leak there will be a road closure in place to allow our teams to work safely and to keep road users safely away from the work area.

"We have completed repair over night and plan to have the road back to normal within the next couple of days.

"Again we'd like to apologise for any disruption this may cause."