Sparkhill community hailed as 'wonderful, generous and tightknit' after mammoth effort to fix huge Stratford Road burst pipe

A restaurant owner has been praised by Severn Trent engineers after their mammoth challenge to repair a huge burst pipe on Stratford Road in the Sparkhill area of Birmingham.

Liaqat Ali saw Severn Trent crews working tirelessly opposite his Stratford Road restaurant business and then said to his staff: “Let’s get cooking!’’

Engineer and repair teams had been at the Sparkhill site since the alarm was first raised shortly before 7am on Friday, with all customers back on supply by Saturday morning and waters receding.

A road closure has partially lifted but motorists are being urged to avoid the area and find alternative routes if possible.

But at lunchtime on Friday the crews were facing wet, challenging conditions as they tackled the complicated repair of the 28ins pipe - one of Severn Trent’s biggest – which had caused flooding issues in the local area.  

Generous Mr Ali, owner of Mughal-e-Azam Restaurant and Banqueting, knew just what they needed – hot food.  He said: “We had suffered some flooding but everybody including Severn Trent and the fire brigade were great and of course no one can work miracles. It is what it is.

“We had to cancel bookings including a birthday party and an anniversary because of the burst, but we still had staff in the kitchen on Friday.

“So when it came to lunchtime, I said let’s make some starters for the teams working outside – it was showing our hospitality.”

Trays of free piping hot starters were delivered to the grateful crews, including kebabs and Chicken Tikka, but the businessman refused any offer of payment.

“It was not about the money, “ he said. “It was just hospitality.”

Mr Ali was not alone in his generosity, as hot chai tea was also delivered from locals to appreciative Severn Trent teams, who are working to now complete the repairs as quickly as possible and get the busy road back to normal.

The wonderful community spirit was no surprise to Amar Rashid, landlord to a row of shops adjacent to the burst. He said: “We are a very close community here in Sparkhill and everyone looks out for each other.

“My units are very close to the burst pipe, but were protected from flooding by the high kerb.

“It was good to see there was a very prompt reaction by the Fire Service and Severn Trent, everyone has been very helpful.”

Steve Hartnoll, boss of a nearby Tattooz shop, passed by the scene as repair work continued at speed on Saturday morning and praised the repair efforts.

“It was chaos when the burst happened, the waters rose very quickly,” he said.

“But the response has been great from Severn Trent and the Fire Service, they have handled things well.”

He added: “And the community spirit here in Sparkhill is great. I should know - I’ve had my shop here for 40 years!”

Adam Coles, customer lead at Severn Trent, had been among the many colleagues knocking doors, delivering bottled water to affected households and keeping residents up to date.

He said: “The understanding and support from local people like Mr Ali has been wonderful. We know this kind of burst can cause huge disruption for local people, so we really want to say a big thank you to the Sparkhill community for their support.”

A Severn Trent spokesperson confirmed on Saturday morning that flood waters had receded “and our priority is to carry out repairs as quickly and as safely as possible and get everything back to normal as soon as we can.”