Water supplies have returned to Witney householders after a burst pipe left homes cut off at the weekend. 

On Saturday (July 16), a burst pipe near Witney left hundreds of households without water or with low pressure. 

A bottled water station was open for around two hours at Burford School. It opened after 7pm – 11 hours after the leak was first reported off New Mill Lane, Witney – and shut at 9pm.

READ MORE: LIVE UPDATES: Oxfordshire's 'danger to life' heat warning scorches county

One Oxford Mail reader labelled the wait for water in the heat ‘abysmal’.

Follwoing this, Thames Water engineers worked through the night to fix the 18-inch pipe but supplies did not return to normal until late Sunday evening (July 17). 

Thames Water apologised to customers for taking so long to get supplies running again in the heat. 

A Thames Water spokesperson said: "We’ve worked through the night to clear air locks from our pipe network and make further improvements.

"We’ve now been able to switch our booster pumps at Minster Lovell back on, and all customers in West Witney and Minster Lovell should now have water. If you still have problems with your supply it could be that you have an air lock.

"We won’t be reopening our bottled water station this morning.Thank you again for your patience over the weekend. We’re really sorry that it took so long to restore water during this hot weather."

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This story was written by Sophie Perry. She joined the team in 2021 as a digital reporter.

You can get in touch with her by emailing: sophie.perry@newsquest.co.uk

Follow her on Twitter @itssophieperry

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