Traders in Hereford city centre say business has been devastated by long-running work to repair a sinkhole.

The hole appeared in Commercial Road in July when a sewer collapsed, with the route having to be partially closed while the work is carried out by Welsh Water. The firm has apologised and said its team was working as fast possible, says the BBC. However, more than six weeks on, traders say they have yet to be given a finish date – and are thousands of pounds out of pocket.

Trudy Davies, who runs The Balloon Shop, said: “Everyone is unhappy about it – they can’t even tell us when they’ll be finished, and we’re making no money.”

Mrs Davies said the roadworks led passing trade to virtually disappearing overnight.

“One day last week I made just £38 – business has declined significantly over the last few weeks, people just aren’t coming down here,” she said. “And it’s got worse and worse – there’s no footfall, there’s nobody in the street. And to top it all off, we’re not getting proper information. When they started, a lady from Welsh Water said they’d be done in two weeks.

“We all understand the work needs to be done, but we’re now six or seven weeks on and we’re having to rely on social media for updates, nobody knows when it will finish.”

The sinkhole appeared on July 23, with Welsh Water saying they had to bring in a specialist team to clean fat and wet wipes that were clogging a sewer.

Another collapse was then found 18m away in Monkmoor Street, by the junction with Commercial Road, resulting in the work having to be extended.

The utility firm has called the work “complex” but say they are “working hard to get it done as quickly as possible”.

Businesses along the route have been asked by Welsh Water to fill in forms, estimating how much trade they have lost, with the firm saying they are “on track” to finish some time this month.

“We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause and thank people for bearing with us,” a spokesperson added.

(Pic: Mapillary)