A BURST water pipe has forced the closure of a busy road - and a parked car means work can't start on repairs.

Notley Road, in Braintree, is shut to traffic at the junction with South Street down to the Godlings Way roundabout.

Water was first spotted running along the road surface yesterday afternoon.

This afternoon (January 23), a spokesman for Anglian Water has said the company is unable to begin work on the repairs until a car parked on the road is moved.

He said: "We are aware of a leak on that road but they can't start work at the moment because a car is parked in the way.

"It's parked right where engineers need to work so unfortunately, until that car is moved, they're not going to be able to start.

"We've closed the road just for the safety of drivers - there is running water and with the frosty weather we have at the moment there's a risk it could freeze over."

The spokesman said that if the car remained in place towards the end of the week the water company could look to help from Essex Highways or the police.

Access to all residential streets off Notley Road has been maintained.