The manager of a popular A127 cafe said tomorrow's major roadworks could kill her business if the chaos caused by yesterday's major gas leak was anything to go by.

Christine Feeley, manager of the Blinking Owl cafe which sits on the London-bound carriageway near the Rayleigh spur, said the sudden closure of the road hit her hard.

She said: "We would normally have got around 50 or so customers yesterday morning alone, but we got four all day. The gas main bursting killed us. Nobody was going past.

"When they start the major roadworks properly tomorrow they say there will be one lane open in the morning which is our main time of business. We're hoping to at least get some business from the workmen themselves."

Christine said she was keeping her fingers crossed but admitted her business could be at risk if yesterday's chaos was repeated every day for an entire month.

Roadworks are due to start tomorrow to undertake £1 million of repairs to the A127 between Rayleigh Weir and the A130.

Christine said: "We could not stand this sort of trade for a month. The cafe has been here since the 1940s but we've only been here for 18 months."

Christine insists the cafe will remain open for business as usual from 7am to 3pm each working day. Meanwhile, gas company Transco insists its engineers did not cause yesterday's leak.

A spokeswoman said: "Our engineers were working on a minor leak in that area but they certainly did not damage the main pipe. As they were excavating it seems the leak got worse. Our engineers had to use specialist equipment and the road was closed for the safety of motorists."

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