People have started loading up their trolleys with masses of water after a mains pipe burst in London.

Supermarket shelves emptied as shoppers fearing a waterpocalypse swept up litres of water.

It comes as swathes of London were left without water after a large mains pipe operated by Thames Water burst.

Waitrose in Twickenham was pictured stripped of everything but San Pellegrino as people picked up mineral water to brush their teeth and make tea.

Even toilets had to close as there was no water avialable to wash or flush.

Thames Water said the fault at its main regional pumping station at Hampton had caused problems in the west and south-west areas.

It said it wanted to get people’s water back on ‘as soon as possible’ but bottled water would be made available if the problem was not fixed soon.

Meanwhile, a number of schools had to close and hospital appointments were cancelled.

The TW, KT and W postcodes have been affected.

Thames Water tweeted: ‘We’re sorry to anyone whose water supply has been affected by a burst on a large pipe at our water works in Hampton.

‘A team of engineers are there investigating and we have more experts planning how to get water back on for our customers as soon as we possibly can.

‘If we’re unable to do that within the next few hours we’ll make bottled water available across the affected areas and we encourage customers to keep an eye our feed for the latest updates.’

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said it was ‘unacceptable that so many people are left without water for several hours with little or no information on when supplies will be restored’.

He said he expected Thames Water to compensate all those affected.

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