An exasperated - and sleep-deprived - resident has spoken of his amazement after seeing the same stretch of road dug up three times in a row.

Dave Savory, landlord of The Style and Winch pub in Union Street, Maidstone, was delighted at the start of the month when he received advance notice from KCC that it intended to shut the road for three days while it carried out resurfacing works.

Mr Savory said: "The road had been so full of potholes where it has been dug up so many times by utility and IT companies that the drive from Wheeler Street to Sittingbourne Road was like taking part in a rally-cross event."

So his heart soared at the news the road was finally to be restored to pristine condition - even though KCC warned the work would be carried out at night - from 8pm till 6am.

But he was perplexed when the week before the work was due to start, contractors for South East Water arrived and began to dig up patches of the carriageway in search of a water leak.

On January 19, the water company, made good the surface and cleared off. The next day, KCC contractors arrived and sealed off the road.

Mr Savory said: "I did wonder why the water company took such pains to restore the road surface since there were already signs out warning it was about to be dug up."

Work didn't actually begin until the night of Friday, January 22, when as Mr Savory, 68, described it: "All hell started up.

"It was impossible to get a wink of sleep."

The workmen returned for another all nighter on Saturday evening though curiously no work went on at all during the day, even though the road remained closed.

At 6am on Sunday, they packed up and went.

Two hours later, the water company returned, installed a set of three-way traffic lights and began digging up the road again.

Mr Savory said: "I don't suppose the paint on the road markings was even properly dry!

"It seems incredible that these bodies are not co-ordinating with each other and somewhat ironic - if the water company had come during the day on Saturday, when the road was closed and the surface already removed, they could have saved themselves a lot of trouble!

"Instead we are gong to immediately get a new patch in our resurfaced road."

A Kent County Council spokesman said: "The resurfacing on Union Street is part of our planned resurfacing programme for 2021.

"This £5 million phase of work includes 26 locations around the county and will continue through to the end of March.

"The works by South East Water were emergency works – by their nature, not planned - due to a leaking pipe.

"The majority of South East Water’s repairs, which were coordinated with us, happened before we laid the final top layer.

"There was a further leak during the last night of our works where we had already laid the top layer.

"South East Water fixed the leak and has placed a patch reinstatement for the road."

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