The westbound carriage of the North Circular Road in New Southgate remains closed as engineers work to fix a broken water pipe.

Police closed off the the A406 between Telford Road and Bexhill Road at 6.30am this morning while engineers carried out work on the two-foot wide main near Arnos Grove.

Thames Water says it hopes the repairs will be completed by rush hour on Monday.

The closure caused misery for morning commuters, with traffic severely delayed in Wood Green, Bounds Green, Palmers Green and New Southgate, as well as in Friern Barnet.

A Thames Water spokesperson said: “Delaying repairs on a leak on such a big pipe could risk it worsening into a highly disruptive burst causing possible flooding and extensive damage.

“Whilst we regret having to do this and are sorry to all road-users affected, unfortunately we have no option but to go ahead with this must-do job.”

A Thames Water representative said they hoped to have the repairs complete and that section of the road back open by Monday.  

The water company is working with Transport for London, which has set up a traffic diversion around the repair work.

A TfL spokesperson said: “There were delays on the road but these are slowly reducing as traffic reduces.”