Homeowners in East Finchley, North London said that they have been left to “fend for themselves” and that they received no proper warning that the works would happen.
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The closure on February 10 forced drivers down the U-shaped road to get around it and back onto the main road, while the residential street itself is narrow and has parking on both sides, making it too small for two-way traffic.
One resident, Geetha Beaven, 50, told The Sun Online: “Nobody can get past each other…there’s no proper one-way system.
“We’ve had no communication from the council…people have been left to fend for themselves.
“It’s very frustrating.”
She claimed that the drivers forced down the street have been getting angry with each other and getting out of their cars to argue or honking their horns, while other are driving too fast down the small streets.
She added: “If there was an emergency we wouldn’t be able to get out.
“There doesn’t seem to be any work going on over the weekend.
“It would have been nice to have been informed or told how long it would last.”
Her frustration is echoed by neighbour Corinna Williams, 63, who said that the situation was “horrendous”.
She explained: “We were told nothing.
“I had a hospital visit and I was really worried about getting to it.
“I didn’t go food shopping for fear of using my car…I was really upset.”
Both Corinna and Geetha mentioned that a local WhatsApp group informed them that the works were being carried out by Affinity Water.
Corinna called the company, but said that they “didn’t seem to know what was going on” and took three days to get back to her, despite allegedly saying they would call her back within a day.
She added: “There wasn’t proper signage…They said they were ’emergency works’ but there didn’t seem to be any work done at the weekend.”
“There was a lot of aggro, people getting out of cars and shouting each other…there are young children here.”
Corinna also called 101 to report the incident to the police, but said that she was told it was a council matter.
A spokesperson for the Met Police confirmed that it was a matter for the council.
A Barnet Borough Council spokesperson said: “The road was closed due to emergency water main repair works undertaken by Affinity Water.
“As the work was done under an emergency permit request, there would not have been the time to inform residents prior to work commencing.
“To ensure the safety of workers onsite, a road closure was put in to facilitate these works. Work is set to be complete today with the road reopened this evening.”
A spokesperson for Affinity Water said: “We apologise for any inconvenience caused to residents while we carried out emergency repair work in East End Road, Finchley, London over the weekend of 10th February 2023.
“We applied for an urgent permit to repair a burst water main and the day before sent text messages to notify our customers that we were going to carry out this work.
“The work started on the 10th February 2023 but had to stop for a short time while new fittings were ordered and arrived on site but even so it was completed the same day.
“Reinstatement work was then carried out over the next few days. The nature of reinstatement work means that often delays take place while materials settle when the Teams will leave the site and then return.”
None of the residents The Sun Online spoke to said that they had received a text message and all said that they had heard nothing from the council or the company before the road was closed.
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