The county council has been slammed by neighbours due to lack of urgency to repair a hole on a busy road.

Vicarage Road, Watford, is the main road to Watford General Hospital and has been closed for nearly two weeks following the opening of a hole.

The void opened up in the road on Friday, August 5, and it is causing disruption for neighbours as drivers are unable to use the road to access West Watford from the town centre.

Dave Degan, 44, of Whippendell Road, is angry one of the major roads in the town has not been given the urgency it needs.

He said: “It is absolutely ridiculous. The road closure is causing major disruption.

“I do not live near the hole but the effects of it are far reaching.

“Nobody seems to do anything about it. There is no action down there at all.

“Nothing happened over the weekend to fix it. It is only a hole after all. It is not good at all.

“It needs to be fixed. The county council need to stop acting like children and just fix the road.

According to Mr Degan the hole is about 20 foot deep and originally Hertfordshire County Council said the work will be completed by August 19, three weeks after it opened.

However, Mr Degan has said it will not be fixed until August 25 according to some signage near the hole.

Mr Degan said: “Hertfordshire County Council need to stop playing the blame game and just get it fixed.

“If it is not their responsibility they should be pushing for someone to fix it.

“It is an urgent matter. If I had a business on that road I would want compensation. Somebody needs to sue them.”

Hertfordshire County Council examined the hole and said it was not a sinkhole but was caused by a burst pipe.

Thames Water has begun working on the site but progress is slow due to the team having to use shovels instead of machinery because of power cables and gas pipes.

Mr Degan added he believes there should be overnight repairs but he believes the county council and Thames Water, who are taking over the work, are not taking it as an urgent matter.

He said: “How quick would the hole be fixed if it was outside their council offices or homes?

“There was a hole down the same road a few years ago. Why has nobody examined the rest of the road?

“It does not seem to be treated with the urgency it should be.”

Tuesday update: Thames Water has confirmed that engineers will be working on-site 24 hours a day. 

Speaking on behalf Hertfordshire County Council Andrew Dawson said: "We acted as quickly as possible when the void appeared.

"We can understand people's frustration with the delay but investigations needed to take place first to find out the cause of the problem to ensure that the right repairs were carried out.

"These investigations revealed that the source of the void was a collapsed Thames Water sewer and we have therefore handed the site over to them to repair their sewer and reinstate the road.

"Although the site is now in the hands of Thames Water, we are working with them to get the situation resolved as quickly as possible and impressing the urgency of the situation upon them.

"We appreciate people's patience in the meantime."

Has the Vicarage Road closure affected you? Comment below or email steven.brown@london.newsquest.co.uk.