BUSINESS owners say they have had to endure weeks of misery caused by time-consuming waterworks.

Traders in Tonge Moor Road, Bolton, claim they were told their water would be shut-off for one day, but were unaware of the additional disruption which would be caused to their shops and offices.

Four weeks after they started, water provider United Utilities still have workmen on site.

Engineers have been replacing more than 700 metres of Victorian piping along the main road, as part of an £80,000 scheme that will connect around 150 homes to new pipes.

But business owners say that the lengthy inconvenience has cost them trade. They say they have been left with uncovered holes in the street behind their shops and the work has been badly organised, making the area unsightly.

Liz West, who runs The Full Filling Sandwich Co in Tonge Moor Road, said: "I stored water so that I wouldn't have to close the shop. We were only without water for a short time, but the way the works have been carried out has been an awful inconvenience. I rely on passing trade but the shop is screened by workmen and wagons. We have not had room for customers or deliveries to park. It just seems to have taken forever, been inefficiently handled and poorly organised."

To make matters worse, works have blocked access for bin men to empty the businesses' bins, meaning that rubbish piled-up for more than three weeks before Bolton Council removed it last week.

Gareth Palmer, who runs hairdresser, Gareth Inn Style, said: "I cancelled a full day of customers when the water was due to be turned-off. On top of that, customers are put-off because the road looks like a worksite, parking has been an inconvenience and we've had rubbish piling-up outside."

A spokesman for United Utilities said that they hoped the work would be finished this week.

He said: "We're sorry if any of our customers have been inconvenienced by the improvements we are carrying out to the water supply on Tonge Moor Road.

"We need to dig underground to replace the pipes and this can cause disruption, but we think most people appreciate this is worth putting up with if the end result is a modern water network which lasts many years."