Water turned off to protect supplies in Morecambe

The supplier said it made the decision to make sure vital services like local hospitals still had running water

Thousands of people in parts of north Lancashire are without water as supplies have been turned off because of burst pipes and leaks.

The water was switched off in parts of Morecambe and Lancaster on Monday for 24 hours after problems caused by the thaw in the weather.

United Utilities (UU) has set up bottled water stations in the area.

The firm said it made the decision to make sure vital services like local hospitals still had running water.

UU said it was seeing more leaks and bursts than usual on customers' properties and on the water network, meaning demand is outrunning supply, and it was now having to take steps to safeguard supplies for as many customers as possible.

The water company said the "difficult decision" had been made to turn off supply to properties in the Morecambe, White Lund, West End, Bare and Sandylands area for 24 hours.

Phil Sweeney, central operations director, said: "We have been working hard over the past few days to repair leaks as quickly as possible and increase production at our water treatment works, but unfortunately we have reached the stage where very difficult decisions have to be made.

"Turning off supply to some parts of Morecambe allows us to safeguard other areas and key sites, including hospitals, and will give us time to refill our network storage.

"Vulnerable customers on our priority services register, as well as places such as care homes, will receive bottled water deliveries."

The bottled water stations are located at:

• Matthias Street car park, Morecambe, LA5 5JR

• Morecambe FC, The Mazuma Stadium, Christie Way, Westgate LA4 4TB

• Festival Markets car park, Morecambe, LA4 4DW

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