Richmond Council has warned it plans to fine Thames Water over failures to repair a burst water main in Ham forcing a major road closure.

The spot on Petersham Road was closed on Thursday last week and Thames Water initially told the Council it would be fixed by the end of Friday.

However, the closure went on through the weekend and was not completed until this morning - causing chaos on the surrounding roads.

One Petersham resident told Nub News: "Closing the Petersham Road has caused massive disruption in the area since last week and I find it incomprehensible that there seems to be no urgency to fix the problem, with no one apparently working at the site and no updated information provided to residents about progress."

Richmond Council said it took advantage of the delay to carry out some repairs on the road surface. However, it put the company on notice of further action, saying: "The council be fining Thames Water."

The problems associated with fixing the Ham hole are one of a number of scandals associated with the company in the borough in recent weeks.

A failure of temporary traffic lights around work in the middle of Twickenham caused horrendous jams, while a burst water main in Hampton Hill caused enormous disruption at the weekend.

At the same time, the company has released huge quantities on sewage water into local rivers in the past two weeks because its treatment works were unable to cope with heavy downpours.

Thames Water has not responded to requests for a comment.