Water leaking from mains valve on road

Hi all, new to this forum but it seems the best to find out about stuff.

We had the road resurfaced just before Christmas and during this, the engineers opened the hatch to the roads water supply valve (if that's what it's called) and used the water for their work I'm guessing.

When they left I noticed a constant stream of water coming up from the hatch.

I reported this to the water company but nothing has been done so far. One of the neighbours on the road opened the hatch to see if he could switch this off and there was a large square nut and a pipe next to it out of which the water is trickling out.

He couldn't switch it off and so he just closed it up again.

I'm just hoping the water company get around to it as its wasting a lot of water but even when trying to call them, I'm put on hold for literally an hour before anyone answers.

My question was does anyone know how these valves work? It supplies the road and I would have thought that turning the valve would simply increade/decrease the pressure of the water to thd road, why is there a pipe next to it trickling water?

It is probably a hydrant which is much the same as a very large tap. They are used by fire brigades and other temporary users of water.

If it is leaking water onto the road and the weather forecast is for sub-zero temperatures then contact the water board again and explain that there may be a risk of ice forming on the road surface. This could result in an accident for which the water company might be held responsible

Depending on your water company, you could try reporting it online, I’ve done this with United utilities with success each time.

Take a photo and put it on their corporate Social Media page(s), that'll soon get them moving. They hate bad publicity.