FIVE hundred homeowners in Greenmount and Tottington woke up last Thursday morning to find themselves without water following a burst pipe.

Emergency repairmen were called to Holcombe Road, Greenmount, around 7am to investigate reports of a burst water main, and spent the next 12 hours battling to fix the problem.

The burst main initially left hundreds of homes without water, and forced Tottington Primary School to close for the day.

United Utilities were able to reconnect the affected stretch of pipe to an alternative water main supplying the majority of people with water later on that morning.

A small number of properties in Holcombe Road were without water until 8pm when the pipe was finally fixed.

A spokesman for United Utilities said: "We managed to get most peoples water back on again by quite early that morning, apart from a handful of properties on Holcombe Road which were back on by early evening. We apologise for any inconvenience caused."