A WATER pipe that was left leaking for two weeks forced tempers to boil over as it caused havoc on a busy road.

A WATER pipe that was left leaking for two weeks forced tempers to boil over as it caused havoc on a busy road.

Residents complained of "danger" crossing the road as a hole filled with water from the exposed pipe was left gaping outside Novelty News newsagents in Crouch Hill.

Gas contractors uncovered the leak when they dug up the road to carry out pipe repairs.

But work ground to a halt as they were unable to back-fill the crevice and continued digging further up the street.

A bus stop was forced out of action and traffic was reduced to a single lane as holes stretched from Shaftesbury Road to Crouch Hill station.

Suryakant Patel, 50, owner of Novelty News, said: "The bus stop has been closed for two weeks now because of all the holes in the road. There's no footpath and pedestrians are forced into the road. Everybody is complaining to me. They come and say what's happening with the hole? I can't do much, I explain it's not the gas people, it's the water people.

"It's very much had an effect on my business. They're supposed to work together the gas and the water people, if there's an emergency leak they have to come and do it quickly."

Michael Smith, 55, unemployed, of Holly Park, Crouch End, said: "It's getting ridiculous now, it's a danger crossing the road. I don't know how people do it with children."

The leaking pipe was finally repaired on Tuesday, August 24.

A spokeswoman for Thames Water said: "We attended the leak as soon as it was reported to us. Our engineers found that the leak was coming from further up the road on one of two water mains. Before repairing the leak, we had to identify which main it was coming from.

"Our leak detectors visited overnight to do this and it was repaired on Tuesday, August 24. We are sorry for any inconvenience caused.