Emergency sewer works in Richmond are continuing to cause problems for residents, as loud sawing and noisy lorries keep them awake at night.

The road works near the Red Cow pub, in Sheen Road, have been a headache for neighbours since a sewer collapsed more than three weeks ago causing flooding, road closures and sleepless nights.

Two flatmates, who live above a corporate letting company, directly opposite where the road was dug up, have even had to resort to sleeping pills and earplugs to cope with the noise.

Daniel Lloyd, 24, said the noise was so bad that he and his flatmate could not even open the window any more.

He said: “I dread coming home now. The road works are right on top of us and we understand it’s emergency work that has to be done but they have to do something about this.

“We put in ear plugs every night and if necessary take sleeping tablets.

“We’re so used to hearing the noise that sometimes we can still hear it with ear plugs in.”

Mr Lloyd, who moved into the flat in December, said he had spoken to Thames Water about the situation but, despite agreeing it was too noisy, they had still not got back to him with a solution.

He said: “It’s great they’re trying to get it done properly but a couple of nights ago they were working until 12.25am sawing a pipe in half and it made the whole room shake which isn’t great.”

A spokeswoman for Thames Water said that they had received complaints about noise on Monday night but had stopped work immediately once residents notified them.

She said: “From now on we will keep noise to a minimum, as we normally would, and we will make sure work is carried out in more sociable hours.”

The spokeswoman added: “We anticipate we will complete the work on March 12, but it’s quite difficult to put a date on these things.

“We want to make sure we have done the work as well as we can as we’d hate for anything to happen again.

“We have to be really thorough and check every part to make sure we don’t have any further problems in the future.”