Closed
Unfinished work after recent burst pipe
Sent to Oxfordshire County Council less than a minute later
Just over a week ago, a 4 inch pipe burst in front of our driveway, raising the tarmac in multiple places including at the junction of the cycling lane and our driveway.
A week ago, contractors only resurfaced the driveway where Thames water dug to the pipe, and promised others would come to resurface the junction with our driveway, but yesterday I contacted Thames water and they replied that they had closed the case as completed even though no one came to carry out the promised work.
Secondly, our water meter (located in the middle of the cycling lane) is also still buried under approximately an arm’s length of rubbles left from the burst pipe and/or the works, making it inaccessible. I don’t have the tools to excavate those rubbles.
Council ref: ENQ251054359
Updates
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Thank you for your enquiry. This issue has been passed onto the relevant team for investigation.
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I wanted to add and clarify that the junction between the tarmac and our driveway is important to inspect and fix because water was coming up through that gap when the pipe had burst.
I had pointed that out to the Thames water contractors and they acknowledged it, but didn’t fix it in the end despite promising to do so.
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Thank you for using FixMyStreet - the water cover is not on OCC-maintained land so you'll need to contact Thames Water's complaints team at https://www.thameswater.co.uk/ help/ how-to-complain.
OCC will contact Thames Water to request removal of the rubble on the cycle lane.
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I’m not sure we’re understanding each other. Was someone actually on site to inspect before your response?
1. The cover itself is not damaged. I’m talking about the tarmac, specifically at the junction between the cycle lane and the driveway of 4 Marsh lane
2. There is no rubble on the cycle lane. The rubble is in the hole under the cover, piled on top of the water meter. Last time I took a meter reading, I had to scoop out water about an arm deep to reach the meter.
Please do pressure Thames Watwr from your side and I will do the same from my side.
Thank you!
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To clarify, when I wrote “Last time I took a meter reading, I had to scoop out water about an arm deep to reach the meter.” I wrote that to describe the amount of rubble that is currently piled on top of the meter.
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When you write “the water cover is not on OCC-maintained land”, can you clarify who is responsible for the cycle lane?
A couple of updates too:
- Thames Water has given me case reference number 1229797. me - a few days ago they opened a “24h callback request” but it’s been over 3 days now and still no callback … - however they will send a technician on site on August 4th between 1-5pm, to meet with me
I’m also attaching two photos from the time of the burst pipe, to show the gap between tarmac and driveway where the water was gushing out and the reference/permit number for the (unfinished) works.
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A Thames water engineer came yesterday as promised.
1. He opened a new job due by August 15th. My understanding is that they’ll open the ground again to dig up the rubble and tidy up around the meter unit.
2. They won’t touch the edge between the tarmac and the driveway because it’s so minor. The tarmac of the cycling lane raised a tiny bit but settled back to a barely noticeable difference with the driveway level.
I’ll mark the problem as fixed when they actually show up and complete the works.
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Thank you for your report. We have concluded our assessment and closed this report. The defects at this location have been identified as meeting our criteria for intervention, and repairs are scheduled to be carried out soon. We appreciate your vigilance and encourage you to report any future highway concerns.
This report is now closed to updates from the public. You can make a new report in the same location.