Fed up driver blasts mayor after burst water main shuts major Doncaster road

The angry driver wrote to the mayor after a recent fractured pipe caused Barnby Dun Road to be shut for more than a week.

The closure came on top of years of delays in nearby Edenthorpe and Clay Lane over a long-running saga to replace a railway bridge that saw numerous delays and disruption for motorists.

The Kirk Sandall resident told the mayor: “I wonder how hard Yorkshire Water have worked to resolve the situation?

“I have to travel by the site frequently during the day as part of my job, but have mostly found no work being completed. Each day when I am returning home about 4pm there is no work being carried out.

“In fact Wednesday afternoon I passed the site about half past two in the afternoon only to find one worker on site, asleep in the digger.

“I am a resident of Kirk Sandall and over the last few years we have had to put up with the Barnby Dun bridge closure and the A18 bridge closure causing chaos on the road for months.

“Now we have had this recent issue, while I understand the repair had to be completed, at present there is only one side of the road which requires patching, but we have to wait three days for the road to reopen.

“How can this be? The motorists around here can not put up with much more having to spend more time and fuel on finding alternative routes and long delays.”

In response, the mayor said: “On receipt of your email, I sought advice from officers, including Highway Inspectors who have attended the specific works that you refer to on a number of occasions since these emergency works/repairs to a main sewer commenced on the evening of Sunday 27 November.

"During the period of this closure, they have had conversations with the Contractor, as well as representatives of Yorkshire Water.

“It was established that during excavations, there was more than just one fracture of the main sewer pipe, which compounded the problem and extended the period of the works and working area, and, as you will probably be aware, required a fleet of tankers to take away large quantities of waste as a result of this pipe burst.

“It was also explained that the Contractor and Yorkshire Water were at the same time dealing with another emergency burst to a large capacity pumped sewer at Hatfield, that also required tankers to be used to take away waste. This was another contributing factor to this closure, but did not unduly extend the time it took to resolve.

“With regard to your comment about no workforce present, the contractor has indicated that there were long periods required for curing of materials and pipe testing, when there would have been no workforce present or obvious activity, (other than a security guard), and this was compounded by extremely low temperatures.

“The Highway Inspector also confirmed that due to the position of the excavation, there were no opportunities at any time for the road to be opened using two way signals.

“We do fully appreciate the frustration experienced by local residents, as well as drivers using this road as a regular route to and from Doncaster, as these works, albeit emergency and unavoidable, did, as you have said, follow on from other disruptive major works/closures and diversions in the near vicinity over recent months and years.

“In conclusion, the Council is satisfied that due to the nature and scope of these particular works, and the associated environmental issues, the closure was managed in an efficient and timely manner.”