Thames Water leak: Chaos as burst main sends 60ft 'geyser' into the air in west London
Thames Water leak: Chaos as burst main sends 60ft 'geyser' into the air in west London
Share:
A burst main in west London has sent water 60 feet into the air, causing traffic mayhem. A huge “geyser” sprouted in the middle of the road at Shepherd’s Bush Green on Saturday lunchtime, with Thames Water engineers battling to keep the impromptu fountain under control. The Standard’s Business Editor, Jonathan Prynn, who witnessed the dramatic leak, described how a “great plume of water” nearly reached the roofline of the Dorsett Hotel, leaving onlookers gauping and holding up traffic.
He explained: “I’ve seen a few bursts in my time but I’ve never seen something as spectacular as that. “It must be 50 or 60 feet. There’s a massive great hole in the road on Shepherd’s Bush Green. It’s just absolutely pouring out”. “It’s really spectacular and will cause total mayhem for hours,” he continued. “The last time I saw something like this in Iceland. I have never seen such a height of water coming out of the streets of London in my life. It’s way above the buses.”.
The leak comes at an awkward time for Thames Water, which is due to appear at the High Court in a bid to allow it to restructure the company on Monday to avoid entering special administration. The utility, which is England’s biggest water company with about 16 million customers, is in about £16bn of debt and needs £3.3bn over the next five years to keep running. Thames Water is forecast to run out of money and enter special administration by late March if restructuring is not approved.
