Melton Mowbray pipe burst leaves thousands without water

The first pipe to burst was at Sixhills near Melton Mowbray in Leicestershire

Thousands of homes had their water supply cut for several hours after two mains burst in a Leicestershire town.

One pipe burst on Thursday, cutting off much of Melton Mowbray, which was repaired by Severn Trent in the afternoon.

But a second main ruptured in the early hours of Friday, again interrupting supply to at least 2,000 properties.

St Mary's Primary School and John Ferneley College both had to close because of the interruption.

Minimise disruption

Gareth Meade, from Severn Trent Water, said: "We had a second burst on the pipe that feeds the LE13 and LE14 areas of Melton Mowbray and we are repairing that.

"We believe it's around a couple of thousand [properties affected]."

Water tankers were brought in and supplies diverted from other mains to minimise disruption.

The second broken pipe was repaired by lunch time on Friday with supplies fully restored by about 15:00 GMT.

The schools said they would mark red nose day on Monday.