Gas company Cadent Gas has commenced work to repair a gas leak in a Victorian-era pipe in Liverpool.

Works on the pipe have caused the closure of Aigburth Road with the pipe straddling both lanes. To access the pipe Cadent engineers have dug a 3m-deep, 3m-wide pit.

The leak in the pipe was detected by a member of the public who smelt gas in the area. The pipe is located close to Sefton Library and Home Bargains.

In order to reopen the road to traffic work has required the removal of several street light columns and the lowering of the raised embankment.

City-bound traffic will now be able to merge into one of the two lanes on the opposite side of the carriageway.

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Traffic will be moved to the opposite lane from Tramway Rd, with vehicles rejoining the city-bound carriageway at Parkfield Rd.

Commenting on the works, Dale Martin, Customer Operations Area Manager, Cadent, said: "This pipe is from a different era, when no-one could possibly have imagined the type of traffic that runs above it today.

"We'd hoped the pipe might be confined to one lane, but we now know it straddles both, and that's created a big challenge for us.

"What we're going to do, having consulted the city council and emergency services, is keep traffic flowing in both directions by making some temporary changes to the central reservation.

"I think motorists should still be prepared for traffic to build up and, if they have other routes they can take, it would be wise to do so while we carry out this work.

"The leak itself is under control, but to fix it we need to expose the full circumference of the pipe so that we can carry out a repair technique called 'encapsulation'. This is basically us wrapping the part with a special casing, stopping the leak.

"I would like to thank everyone for bearing with us – keeping everyone safe is always going to be our first priority, but we are working hard too in order to find ways to keep unavoidable disruption to a minimum."