DRIVERS faced delays yesterday when Wallingford Bridge was closed due to a burst main.

Recent freezing temperatures caused the water main to burst on Wednesday evening.

The bridge is one of the main routes into the town and the closure caused congestion through nearby Crowmarsh and the town centre.

Thames Travel Buses were not able to serve stops in Crowmarsh village or Benson Lane.

Thames Water spokesman Becky Johnson said it was a complicated repair job.

She said: “We couldn’t repair the main straight away due to the age of the bridge. It is over 400 years old, so we had to involve a bridge expert before we started to excavate.

“We repaired the main at 1pm on Thursday, however the repair put extra pressure on the main and caused it to burst 30 metres away.

“As a result we had to start a new repair on this section of pipe.”

The bridge was expected to reopen last night.