Hosepipe ban? Anger of residents as water shoots from burst pipe in South London 'for almost two days'

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Furious residents in south London have slammed Thames Water after water was left spurting into the sky for "almost two days" from a burst pipe despite the hosepipe ban.

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The "extreme" 48-hour leak is believed to have started on Sunday, August 2. Residents reported that there was "no sign" of Thames Water until Tuesday morning.

The burst pipe can be seen spewing a tower of water into the sky far above the rooftops, just in front of a row of houses.

A blue barrier appears to have been erected around the pipe while a few orange cones were placed on the water-saturated streets.

Residents of Green Lane, Streatham slammed the water company's response time as a "joke", amid the ongoing hosepipe ban as London faces its worst drought in decades.

Thames Water imposed a hosepipe ban affecting 10 million customers on July 23, blaming the long stretch of hot weather and low rainfall levels.

Resident Debra Scrivener, who lives opposite the burst pipe, said there had been "no sign" of Thames Water for the first 48 hours of the incident. She added: "It's a joke."

Speaking to LBC on Tuesday morning, she said: "They're finally here. It's still leaking but not as crazy as before. They are finally doing something now.

"It was quite extreme!"

Annoyed locals took to social media to express their frustration.

One resident wrote: "It's pathetic us not being able to water our gardens and having lawns like hay while Thames Water has leaks all over the place."

Another said that they "could not believe this has not yet been fixed! Literally water has been running since yesterday. Where is Thames Water?"

In an online update posted on Tuesday morning, Thames Water said: "We are aware of an issue in the area that's affecting the customers in the Streatham Vale area".

They added in a later update: "We've now arrived on site and are working to stop the water flowing.

"Once we've stopped the water flooding we'll be able to start rerouting water around the network, which will then bring the water back to all customers.

"We know how disruptive it is if you lose your water supply, so we’ll work hard to get things back to normal as soon as we can.

"As a precaution we're delivering bottled water to customers who are registered as water dependent on our Priority Services Register. We'll get to you as quickly as we can.

"Sorry if your water supply has been affected this morning."