Forum topic: Havoc on (and off) Hedge Lane

There was an extraordinary turn of events on Friday when Thames Water, just two days into a planned three-week programme of pipe replacement works in Hedge Lane by its junction with Green Lanes, abruptly terminated the work, filled in the holes they’d made, packed up their kit and departed sheepishly.
Local residents, me included, had been warned about the work some weeks previously, but there were no details of how traffic would be managed while Hedge Lane was closed. As it turned out, an inept and poorly executed system of signs and road closures resulted in almost all traffic using Osborne Road as a diversion, in both directions. Residents endured two (very hot) days and nights of thundering traffic, as well as gridlocks and standoffs of angry drivers as vehicles met head-on in what is in effect a single-lane road. Motorcyclists were seen using the pavements.
On both days a blizzard of emails and phone calls to the council from bleary-eyed residents elicited pledges of more robust road blocks and temporary one-way systems. In the meantime, drivers simply drove around warning signs and brushed aside flimsy barriers, sometimes literally riding roughshod over them.
On Friday morning a high-powered delegation (me and a couple of other residents) met with MP Bambos. His office is just around the corner so he had already witnessed the chaos himself and been shocked by it. We were barely out of the door before he was on the case, and his intervention with the council brought about the immediate postponement of the works until further notice on the grounds of public safety. By that evening the hapless Thames Water workers were gone, sent away with a flea in their ear and their tails (and pipes) between their legs, off to dig up some other road.
The pipes will still have to be replaced, but TW and the council are now obliged to come up with better plans for traffic management and consult with local residents beforehand. We’ll see…

Sounds awful . The TW guys also managed to close the cycle lane by blocking it with a road closed sign; you couldn't make it up....