At long last, to the relief of long-suffering traders and commuters, Bradford’s White Abbey Road has finally re-opened.

The road was closed to traffic more than two weeks ago after a massive water pipe burst caused structural damage and major flooding.

And while the fact that this busy route into the city centre is finally open again is to be welcomed, for businesses affected, there are longer term issues that must be considered.

Some have lost stock; others have seen structural damage.

There has also been the additional impact the road closure has had on their trade in terms of footfall to consider.

For one, Atique Textiles, the actual business itself is unlikely to reopen until the New Year because the damage means the whole shop has to be refitted.

Incidents like this do happen from time to time.

But questions still have to be asked to establish the how and why.

And further, to establish if anyone is liable to pay those affected any form of compensation.

The basic fact of the matter is, through no fault of their own, a number of traders have had their businesses seriously hit, first by the initial damage and then the subsequent closure of the road.

They deserve, at the very least, answers about the cause of this incident.

They also deserve to be told if anyone is to blame.

Yorkshire Water has a duty to provide some form of explanation to them, and to at least consider whether some form of financial recompense is in order.