A BURST water main in Witney left up to 800 homes without water yesterday – a day after Thames Water announced a hosepipe ban.

The pipe, at the junction of Ducklington Lane and Station Lane, burst at about 3am, but Thames Water had rerouted water into the area by 10am.

The company said the burst was likely caused by wear and tear on the PVC pipe.

But the burst came just a day after Thames Water announced plans to introduce a hosepipe ban from April to save water.

Anyone found flouting it could be fined up to £1,000.

Thames Water spokesman Natalie Slater said: “It was quite a substantial burst but we do not know exactly how much water was lost.

“We focused on getting the pipe repaired. From the first call to getting the pipe shut off took only two hours.”

Engineers had to dig up one of the two lanes approaching the junction.

The main was fixed by about 3pm.

Thames Water was yesterday waiting for water sample test results to return before resurfacing the road and reconnecting the pipe.