A community coffee shop owner is fearing for the safety of her customers after a hole opened up outside her shop.

Krisha White, who runs The Meeting Place, in Main Road, Sutton-at-Hone, is demanding something be done about the void – and the constant flow of water near a pedestrian crossing just along the road.

She fears the combination of the two problems is “an accident waiting to happen”.

Krisha, who runs craft groups for elderly people and music sessions for toddlers at her cafe inside Sutton-at-Hone library, says her customers are forced to dodge the hole just to reach the warmth of her cafe.

She says it first appeared just before Christmas. It came after a water main burst in October, which she says took forever to get fixed by Thames Water.

“Both have been reported multiple times,” she said. “Given Thames Water advertising ‘every drop counts’ and telling us to report leaks, they don’t seem very fussed.”

Kent County Council has put a barrier around the hole but has confirmed to KentOnline that it is down to the utility company to fix the problem.

Whilst the wrangling continues, Krisha, 48, is worried for the safety of residents walking along the pavement.

“Pedestrians now have to walk into the lay-by which potentially isn’t safe as the floor is dropping there too,” she said.

“We have quite a few parents with buggies and people pushing others in wheelchairs who now have to push down and up the curb in the lay-by as they can’t use the pavement.

“And when there was a leak on the other side it meant people couldn’t use that bit of pavement either.

“During the cold weather the water turns to black ice on the pavement, causing parents and children to fall whilst walking to stopping elderly residents from being able to cross the road safely at the traffic lights.”

A Thames Water spokesman said the company had set up its own traffic management “with a view to schedule in a repair as soon as possible”.