Burst water pipe closes courthouse and subway (From Basildon Recorder)

Burst water pipe closes courthouse and subway

1:00pm Friday 9th January 2009

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A BURST waterpipe saw a court house closed and flooded a nearby subway following a thaw in freezing temperatures.

Jurors at Basildon Crown Court were sent home following the flooding in Broadmayne with a clean up operation sent to go on until this morning.

Water reached just two-foot from the top of the underpass before the fire brigade were called to pump it out.

The flood waters also flooded the court’s car park and seeped into two nearby gardens, although no property was damaged.

Monica Greenwood, from Essex and Suffolk Water, said the pipe burst at about 9.30pm on Tuesday night. Water supplies were restored within 30 minutes.

She said: “We were able to shut off the pipe and rezone the water supply.

“Residents were only left without water for about 30 minutes.

According to Essex and Suffolk Water the burst was caused following a thaw in the recent freezing temperatures.

Mrs Greenwood said: “The burst was caused by ground movement.

“As the temperatures started to thaw frozen water in the ground melted, causing the earth to move slightly and the pipe to wrench and break.

“The new plastic pipes are able to cope with the movement, but until we replace all the old iron ones it is something we are going to have to live with.”

The court building was left with soggy and muddy carpets and smoking plug sockets.

Some courts were able to function as normal, but jurors in four ongoing trials were sent home as their assembly area was waterlogged.

Visitors to the court had to use the rear entrance, which is usually reserved for staff.

Jeannine North, court manager, said: “As we are fairly low down the water came our way.

“The flood was mains water. It is not sewage and so there are no risks to health.

“We have really tried hard to ensure as many court sittings continue as possible and we are continuing to deal with customer inquiries at the counter and on the phone.

“We decided as the jury assembly area was hit quite badly by the flood it would be better to sort out the problem and ring them as early as possible so jurors didn’t come in.”

Mrs Greenwood, added: “As far as we are aware the court took the brunt of it and we are now doing all we can to clear it up. The drying kit has arrived and once that is in place it will run through the night.

“The drying will continue throughout the weekend and hopefully it will be sorted out by Monday.”

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