A FORMER contract engineer who worked for Thames Water has blasted its latest efforts at fixing burst water mains.

Paul Morris, 38, of Barfields, Loughton, said residents could expect more leaks on the way as he branded the water company's repair work “appalling”.

In the last two weeks Loughton has sprung at least three leaks- at Church Hill, by Homebase, and at the top and bottom of Alderton Hill, with widespread disruption to traffic.

Mr Morris, a former leak detection engineer, who worked with Thames Water eight years ago, said old pipes urgently needed replacing or leaks would continue to occur.

He said: “The council re surfaced the bottom of Alderton Hill recently, with much inconvenience to all who live in Loughton as it has a massive impact on traffic.

“Now the road surface is completely ruined again and will probably have inferior repair works carried out.

“They've done an awful job of the road surface. My children could have done better. I'm a motorcyclist and its dangerous driving around Loughton at the moment.”

Mr Morris said the pipework around Traps Hill, Borders Lane, and Alderton Hill was linked and prone to leaking.

“When you turn one valve off it increases the pressure along the line and makes the other valves leak, they knew this happened eight years ago but insist on patch up jobs rather than full repair.

“I put in a report on a leak in Traps Hill but it was approximately four years before it was fixed,” he said.

Thames Water have denied their engineers do a poor job of resurfacing the road.

Spokesman Simon Evans said: "We work closely with highways departments at all local authorities in our region. The roads we dig up belong to them so we have to make sure we rebuild them properly after finishing our jobs. If we didn't they'd send us back to do it properly."

He added: "We're currently spending £500,000 a day replacing 100- to 150-year-old cast-iron water mains with tough new plastic pipes less prone to leaks and bursts. And we're hitting the worst areas with the oldest pipes first. That's why we're starting off in central London before working our way out.

“Bursts have doubled since the start of January's cold snap and so we've doubled our men on the ground to deal with this. We are acutely aware of the hassle it's caused people and we're sorry. Please bear with us, we're doing our best."