EMERGENCY leaks, ruptures and repairs by Thames Water have plagued the same main road into Oxford more than once a month for the past two years.

As frustrations continue to mount over persistent traffic delays, new figures show Thames Water has dug up the Botley Road 24 times since January 2017 for emergency works.

This includes 16 urgent repairs by Thames Water during 2018 which is double that of the previous year.

It follows Monday’s works to fix a burst water main on Botley Road, at the junction of Ferry Hinksey Road which caused gridlock across the city.

Oxford city and Oxfordshire county councillor for Jericho and Osney Susanna Pressel said: “Thousands of people were held up by Thames Water work Monday.

“We know it was an emergency, but it is still puzzling how often this happens.

“Thames Water did an enormous amount of work on the large water main under Botley Road about five years ago. Surely that means fewer repairs at this stage.”

The most recent works on Monday, lasted for almost 24 hours, and caused traffic to back up right across the city.

Drivers reported hour-long delays coming out of Osney Mead industrial estate.

It is the latest of 38 other Thames Water jobs logged for the Botley Road since January 2017, including emergency,major and minor.

Since then, Thames Water repair works have also been affecting traffic around the Oxford Ring Road, with two hours delays reported in some cases, and the A420.

There has also been works on a collapsed sewer in Green Road, near Headington Roundabout, since June.

Ms Pressel said: "What annoys people is when there's temporary traffic lights, but no sign of anyone at work.

"[...]The city is so often gridlocked by this kind of incident that we clearly must find a solution to."

She said potential solutions such as more bus gates, a workplace levy, a congestion charge, are currently being considered and planned to be put to the public for consultation in January.

Oxfordshire County Council spokesman Martin Crabtree added: "As the highway authority we are not able to prevent works taking place that are deemed urgent or emergency – by their nature they have to be done by Thames Water with little or no notice, often because not acting promptly would lead to homes losing water supply.

"We do what we can to insist that the work, which will involve digging up and repairing infrastructure before reinstating the road, is done in a way that minimises disruption as far as possible."

The water company has recently reported that extreme weather this year caused a surge in leaks and water supply outages - causing complaints to soar to 11,083 in the half-year to September, from 8,242 a year earlier.

It has said it is currently repairing a record number of more than 1,500 leaks a week across its supply area.

A spokeswoman for Thames Water said: “We provide two essential services in Oxford - clean drinking water and waste water. Being responsible for two pipe networks, we have more repairs and maintenance to carry out than other utility providers.

“We’re sorry for the disruption work causes, which we understand in an already congested city like Oxford, can have a big impact and we try to keep it to a minimum.”

The firm said recent jobs on the Botley Road have included clearing sewer blockages of fat and wipes which should not have been flushed.

Others jobs have been repairs to customer and network pipes and the spokeswoman said all work carried out is ‘necessary to provide reliable services’ to customer now and in the future.

The firm are investing £2.1 billion to reduce leaks by 15 per cent by 2025.