The closure of Hill Street, which has blocked traffic access to Richmond town centre since the beginning of the month, has been extended yet again.

Work on the road, which involves repairs to a water main by Thames Water, started on March 1 and was originally predicted to take three weeks.

However, the completion date was extended to March 27 and then April 4, but it has now emerged the road will not re-open until Tuesday, April 11, at the earliest.

Thames Water has apologised for the delay, however that will be little comfort to the travellers from Twickenham and Richmond, who have faced long diversions to reach the town centre.

At the same time, the disruption to traffic will have hit trade for businesses in the centre of Richmond.

Thames Water has a shocking record on handling burst water mains and repairs in the borough. It has been fined some 350 times – a total of more than £200,000 - by the Council over the past four years for failing to complete works on schedule.

Work on the road, which involves repairs to a water main by Thames Water, started on March 1 and was originally predicted to take three weeks. Credit: TMS.

The Richmond Park MP, Sarah Olney, said she has written to the chief executive of Thames Water to demand improvements to the way the company deals with works in the borough.

She said: "I know that many residents have been extremely frustrated by Thames Water's extensive roadworks in Richmond town centre over the last few weeks.

"While I appreciate this work is essential to repair London's aging pipe network, Thames Water have left some roadworks unattended for days, abandoned portaloos after the works completion, and despite slowing traffic in the area to a standstill, failed to fix several readily apparent leaks."

Thames Water said: "We are sorry our work to repair a large pipe in Hill Street has been so delayed … Our original plans have been affected by three unexpected delays.

"When our team first dug around the pipe, they found they needed to consult a structural engineer to advise them on a nearby property.

"We then found a number of services – including gas mains and old tram lines – were situated awkwardly close to the pipe, which meant they had to dig by hand.

"We also discovered a high voltage cable was running directly above the pipe, and needed UK Power Networks to move it so that we could work safely.

These were problems we didn't anticipate when we first planned the repairs.

"We are really sorry that this has prolonged our work, and for the impact on local businesses and on drivers using local roads."