DRIVERS were caught in long queues on North Cray Road near the Ruxley roundabout due to 'substantial' water leak this morning.

Half the road was coned off south-bound and this left drivers from Bexley village caught in traffic.

Works are also going on in Sidcup Hill.

A spokesman for Bexley Council said: "Thames Water are investigating a non-visible leak in North Cray Road, by Ruxley roundabout.

"Thames Water reported that a measured high volume of water was being lost requiring a deep excavation of the central reservation.

"This made it necessary to close the offside lane on the southbound carriageway of North Cray Road on the approach to the roundabout."

A spokesman for Thames water added: "Workers are now on site digging down to get to the pipe – they weren’t working first thing this morning because all the traffic management needed to be set up.

"This is because they needed to work in the central reservation, it would have been dangerous to have start work before that was in place.

"The problem is a leak on a 4” main which is getting worse.

"We don’t yet know how long the work will take as the team need to get in the trench and take a good look at the problem.

“We’re really sorry to people affected by our works but this is an urgent, must-do job.

“We’ll do our best to get this pipe fixed and the road back to normal as soon as possible.”