Thames Water has defended itself against accusations of causing “unnecessary delays to tens of thousands of Londoners” as it sought to fix a leak beneath Marylebone Road.
On Monday Transport for London condemned the utility for failing initially digging in the wrong place while and taking “over nine hours to completely re-open the road to traffic.”
TfL say the incident follows previous failures by Thames Water to get contractors to site, leading to delays in reopening roads to traffic.
Leon Daniels, Managing Director of Surface Transport at TfL, said he had “tasked my team with exercising the closest possible scrutiny over subsequent Thames Water works and through this we will – on behalf of Londoners – apply pressure to ensure that Thames Water do everything they can to limit further disruption.”
However a spokesperson for Thames Water disputed TfL’s version of events, insisting it had brought forward works by two weeks “on the request of TfL”.
A spokesman added: “Pin-pointing an underground leak is often a lot easier said than done, and we are sorry for the disruption over the weekend.
“We completed the work in the agreed area, however no leak was found. We are carrying out further investigations with TfL and London Underground.”