A BLOCKED sewer caused chaos for Kendal's Christmas shoppers at the weekend, leaving one of the main routes through town closed for two hours as workmen battled to drain off surface water, reports Ellie Hargreaves.

The crisis was amplified after Cumbria County Council inadvertently tarmacked over manhole covers, a Capita spokesperson admitted.

The town centre was left gridlocked after problems with drains on Lowther Street left the one-way road closed to traffic between 2.45pm and 4.45pm on Saturday.

Bedlam resulted after United Utilities workmen were unable to locate manholes in the street to fix the problem - at Burgundy's at the bottom of Lowther Street and had to resort to rectifying the blockage via the wine bar.

Shop owners said business died off during the problems and Stagecoach buses were delayed as police were forced to divert traffic up Gillinggate and Allhallows Lane.

The incident has also sparked fears among the street's traders that more problems could follow.

Mike Pennington, the owner of Burgundy's, alerted the police after noticing the blockage on Saturday. He feared that additional traffic and the recent removal of the 7.5ton weight limit on Lowther Street would prove too much for the narrow road and have serious structural implications.

"Lowther Street is now a main artery road in the town. We have a continuous stream of traffic and a lot of heavy vehicles," he said. "The volume and the weight is getting serious we're noticing a lot more vibrations in the building. Originally there was a 7.5ton limit, now it's 18.75ton and we've got a lot of articulated wagons coming down.

"How's the road going to stand the problem over the next few years? We are all very frustrated down here. We want some guarantee that the council will help us if there's a problem. It's them that have put this extra weight limit on so if there are problems with the drains, will they take responsibility for it?"

Roger Haigh, from Haigh's Architects on Lowther Street, agreed the problem was getting worse. "We have got cracks all up the building and they have got worse since they took away the weight restrictions. We get vibrations that we never got before. The traffic is having a detrimental effect. The whole building could collapse after a long period of time. We can't maintain our buildings either because we can't block the road with decorators or workmen, so the gutters are getting jammed up.

"I don't know what the answer is. I don't agree with the one-way traffic system but I don't know what the alternative is."

George Inchmore is a trader on Stramongate and a representative of the Federation of Small Businesses. He said he would be seeking independent legal advice on behalf of the concerned traders. "Apart from the motorway, Lowther Street is on the main road up to Scotland now. That road was built for horses and carriages not 40ton wagons. Nobody knows what to do. Cumbria County Council are walking us down a jetty and pushing us into the water."

Nick Raymond, area engineer for Capita, dismissed claims that lifting the weight restrictions would lead to structural problems as "unreasonable" and said the overall effect on the road would be the same because larger HGVs would spread the weight more evenly over a larger space. He also revealed plans to fill empty cellars with cement underneath the road and said a ground radar test to identify voids and weak points, such as cellars, had been completed and he was awaiting the results.

"Even if traffic flow increased massively it is still a road that is entitled to carry that traffic. The owners are still responsible for any repairs. That is the law. Property owners may or may not have sufficient funds to undertake further maintenance and so we are offering to pay for that void to be filled with concrete to limit their liability in the future."

He admitted manhole covers had "probably" been covered over during highways resurfacing.