THE fire station and a number of businesses in Rawtenstall were without water for 12 hours after a water main burst.

The pipe in Haslingden Road began leaking water at around 12.30am yesterday, flooding one lane of the roundabout adjacent to Queen’s Square.

Police officers navigated traffic away from the area and cordoned off the road and United Utilities then sent staff to close off the water supply.

Steve Morley, crew manager at Rawtenstall Fire Station, said: “This has happened about five times in the last 12 months.

“It causes a problem for us getting in and out because of the flooding and when they shut it off we had no running water.

“It’s about time they sorted it out properly.”

Ben Stansfield, assistant manager of the Riverside Health Club in New Hall Hey Road, said: “We’ve had our water cut off at least twice because of this faulty pipe bursting.

“United Utilities keep fixing it temporarily and then it bursts again. They need to get it fixed.

“We couldn’t use the toilets here and there was no water to wash up with in the kitchen.

“The only water ourselves and customers had to drink was from the machine, and that doesn’t last forever. Lots of customers came in to use the gym yesterday morning, before work.

“They left because they couldn’t use the showers afterwards.”

A spokesman for United Utilities apologised for the inconvenience to the customers.

He said: “We’re sorry to our customers who have been impacted by the pipe burst on Haslingden Road.

“We got supplies back on by 11.30am. We know that we’ve had problems in the past with this pipe and are looking at how we can make long term improvements to prevent this happening.”

A spokeswoman for Lancashire Police said: “At 12.50am, a member of the public reported flooding in Queen’s Square.

“It was quickly established that a water main had burst.

“Officers closed the road and contacted United Utiities who were able to isolate the fault to prevent it flooding further and also call someone out to repair it.”