'˜Nightmare': Many in Banburyshire without water for hours after burst pipe

A power cut in Banbury on Thursday and a burst water pipe from the cold weather meant residents and businesses in OX15 suffered.

The small village of Epwell was without water on Saturday with bottled water being handed out around the village.

The Chandler’s Arms’ manager Joseph Biben said it was a ‘nightmare’ as he was without water from Saturday morning to Sunday morning.

“We had booked 28 people for Sunday and I needed to prepare the food, it was hard,” he said.

“We like to know when we’re not going to have water so it’s not so big a problem so you can prepare but when you hear nothing, it’s much worse.”

Mr Biben said customers were forced to keep the same glass as they could not wash up, while washing machines and boilers were possibly damaged by the lack of water.

A Thames Water spokesman said: “We’re sorry to customers who experienced no water or low pressures in OX15 over the weekend.

“There was a temporary interruption to supplies, but we quickly re-routed the network and installed tankers to pump more water into the system to restore supplies.

“We had teams working flat-out throughout last week and the weekend to minimise disruption, and we’d like to thank residents for their patience and understanding.”