IT’S hard not to have sympathy for the businesses on Halifax Road in Birchencliffe.

They have had to put up with a series of major work on the main road and it’s far from over yet.

It seems every public utility wants to have a go with gasworks causing disruption 18 months ago, now Yorkshire Water is working on a scheme there which is well behind schedule and then Kirklees Council will reconstruct the road.

Anyone who has driven along the road in recent weeks knows only too well the problems it is causing so it’s only right the businesses that are suffering get the right compensation.

And surely Yorkshire Water should be paying compensation as a matter of course if it has failed to complete the work to its own deadline.

In some countries work on major roads are carried out around the clock, but seemingly not so in the UK.