VIDEO: Business owner says burst pipes have become 'a way of life'

Martin Haynes, owner of Precision Southern Aluminium in Westcourt Road, Worthing, said it was the fourth time his store had been flooded in his 11 years there.

His shop was one of five commercial properties that were affected when a nine-inch PVC main burst in the early hours of this morning at the junction of Westcourt Road and South Farm Road. Click here to see more pictures of the burst water main.

The building was flooded with half an inch of water which has saturated the shop’s new carpets. These were fitted last year after a pipe burst yards away from this morning’s leak.

Repair works by Southern Water and its contractors are currently underway.

Mr Haynes, 56, said: “It will be back to normal for them today, but not for us. It’s taken us nine months to recover from the last flood after the new carpets were put down and the walls were repainted.

“Because it’s an old building there was no membrane below the floor, so the water had nowhere to go. We had one put down after the last flood so hopefully the floors will dry out quicker but we’ll still have to pull up the carpets to dry otherwise they’ll stink.

“There’s no more improvements I can make to the building to stop it happening again.

“It has become a way of life, a guaranteed happening. And it’s going to happen again until Southern Water spend the money to do the job properly.”

A staff member for Southern Water at the scene said they were getting on with the job at hand.

South Farm Road has been re-opened, but Westcourt Road remains closed.

In a statement, Southern Water said: “Our customer service team is on-site speaking to all those affected.

“We apologise for any inconvenience.”

Southern Water have been approached for further comment.

Don’t miss out on all the latest breaking news where you live.

Here are four ways you can be sure you’ll be amongst the first to know what’s going on.

1) Make our website your homepage at www.worthingherald.co.uk/

2) Like our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/Worthing.news

3) Follow us on Twitter @Worthing_Herald

4) Register with us by clicking on ‘sign in’ (top right corner). You can then receive our daily newsletter AND add your point of view to stories that you read here.

And do share with your family and friends - so they don’t miss out!

The Worthing Herald - always the first with your local news.

Be part of it.