A father is furious after workers turned up late in the evening to repair the road outside his house while his children were studying for important exams.

Martin Rogers said Emily, 16, and George, 15, were disrupted when the crew arrived at 9.30pm to resurface a section of North Lane in East Preston, near Worthing, after a burst water pipe last month.

The teenagers are studying for their GCSEs and A-Level mock exams, which will go towards university applications.

Mr Rogers fears their grades could be affected by the noisy work.

The Argus: The engineers working on the roadThe engineers working on the road (Image: Martin Rogers)

He said: "The first we heard about the roadworks was when the hydraulic hammer started working at around half nine.

"We were all amazed to hear it at this time. One of my neighbours went outside and had quite a visceral rant with them.

"Both my kids were revising for their exams and I want them to do well. Emily is taking her A-Level mocks and they will be the ones her university offers will be based on.


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"She's the kind of person who wants the best so I don't want anything to put her off, she has worked so hard. This is totally unfair."

The Argus understands the team from contractor Clancy, who were doing the roadworks for Southern Water, arrived later than expected but were determined to finish the job.

Mr Rogers, a premises officer for a nearby junior school, said they got to work at around 9.30pm and left at 11pm on Tuesday.

He added: "I've got neighbours with young kids and this was well beyond their bed time. It's stupid they would start working on the road so late."

A spokesman for Southern Water said: "We’re sorry for the disruption our works caused residents in North Lane, East Preston. 

"Our permit for the work, granted by West Sussex County Council, was from 6.30pm to 10pm. We chose to do this work in the evening during half-term to minimise traffic disruption following difficulties encountered previously, unfortunately the work took longer than we had expected. 

"We recognise the upset this has caused and we’re looking into what has happened to avoid issues like this happening in future.”