A Wiltshire trader has complained after engineers searching for a mystery gas leak have dug up the pavement outside his shop for the second time in six weeks .

DW Money Services owner Dave Wyatt claims Wales & West Utilities are affecting his trade with the works trying to locate a gas leak in Silver Street, Trowbridge.

Mr Wyatt said: “This is the second time. The first time they came was about six weeks ago two days into my holiday.

“They are still digging. They keep coming back most days, looking at it, making new holes and digging more up. It’s a gas leak which they think is in the middle of the road.

“Why they have dug outside the shop is because they are saying it gives it a release from it going into the shop.

“Every time, there is different gangs come and they take new readings all the time and they find new readings in new places.

“At the moment they say they are stuck. I talked to them this morning and they said because of the rain that we’ve had all they are pulling up is water.

“Today, they have been drilling in the road but, of course, they can’t just dig the road up because it needs closing. They have got to get permission to do all that.

“We don’t know how long it is going to last. One guy said it could be like this for months and months.

“Nobody has given us any notice or talked to us. It’s a pain because it stops the customers coming into the shop and is blocking the pavement. We put stuff out the front and nobody can see them.

“I have been away for five weeks so I didn’t see it. I have only been back a week and it was all closed when I came back and now we have opened it up again.

“They blocked access to all the shop windows at one point. We couldn’t get to the shutters to put them down.

“They put some big heavy slabs down and we had to get someone to move them so we could close up the shop so that we could go home.

“It’s a big distraction and I’m sure it’s stopping people from coming in because they are parked on the pavement half the time as well.

“It is definitely affecting trade because people can’t see that we are open half the time.

“They have left a L-shaped hole that’s much bigger. It’s a massive hole that’s about a foot deep and about 4ft across, and another that’s 2ft wide and about 18 inches deep.

“They reckon that the leak’s in the middle of the road, and they’ll have to dig up the road and that will be even more of a pain.”

Alan Vickerstaff, Wales & West Utilities gas emergency service manager for Trowbridge said: "We are working in the Silver Street area of Trowbridge to locate and repair a leak on the gas pipe running beneath the road.

“This is a complex job and we are taking all steps to understand the cause of the leak and how long our work will take. Once we have located the source of the leak, we will need to dig down and make a repair. 

“We appreciate the patience and understanding of local residents and road users while we carry out this essential work.

“Whilst it is important that we fix this leak now, it does not pose any serious safety concerns and there is no impact on local gas supplies.”