Traffic delayed by 100ft spray from burst pipe

Severn Trent workers took about an hour to contain the jet from a water pipe at the side of the busy A483 in Pant, near Oswestry.

As water sprayed above the trunk road, it caused long queues of traffic to build up.

The drama began at lunchtime after a team from the water company arrived on site to deal with a report of a leak.

Jennifer Evans, from Stargarreg Lane, noticed something above the neighbouring bungalows. “I looked closer and realised it was water. It was quite spectacular, higher than the houses,” said Mrs Evans, adding the spray continued for about an hour.

“I was worried about us losing our water supply so I filled some containers.”

Another villager, Thomas Smith, said his water suddenly went dirty. He said: “I asked the guys working on the problem and they said it was probably connected.”

A spokeswoman from Severn Trent said: “We received a call on Tuesday night about a problem with water.

"Yesterday we had three calls from the public to say they had lost their water supply and another customer had the water turned off while we dealt with the problem. We put up traffic lights to enable the road to be kept open.”