More than 500 Shropshire people were without water for more than four hours on Christmas Day after a major leak. It is believed a water main burst as it thawed following the big freeze.

Homes in the Ludlow area were affected by the leak.

Ludlow’s mayor Martin Taylor-Smith said: “We lost water so I phoned up Severn Trent Water. They said it was a major leak.

“Luckily it was fixed by about 2pm. We lost the water in the morning. We noticed it about 11am but we have a large water tank so I think it went off before that.

“It would have affected people trying to do the cooking. Luckily my wife Rosanna had enough water to boil the veggies, but I suspect it would have caused chaos.

“The water people said it was a major leak. It seems like it affected most of Ludlow certainly Mill Street and the town centre was badly affected.”

Grace Marren, a spokesman for Severn Trent Water, said the shortage was caused by an eight inch burst main on the B4365 in Ludlow. She said the leak could have been caused by the freezing temperatures quickly followed by warmer weather.

“We received our first ‘no supply’ call just after 7am yesterday. We brought in water from another network of pipes so we got everybody back on by 11am,” she added.

“Obviously we apologise to customers who were inconvenienced by it,” she said.

“It is not very nice waking up on Christmas day with no water but we did work very quickly to try and get water back to our customers.”