UNITED Utilities have thanked residents and businesses in Clitheroe for their co-operation during a water cut-off at the weekend.

Supplies to 10,000 homes and businesses, which feed off the town centre mains, were shut off at midnight on Saturday, with the company given a 12-hour deadline to complete vital maintenance work

The work was expected to be completed by Sunday lunchtime, but all supplies were completely restored by 6am.

Work was carried out on a 20 inch main pipe, which had developed a small leak. If it had been left undone, it could have affected supplies to the whole town.

The decision to carry out the repair work overnight was taken to cause minimum disruption to local residents and businesses. United Utilities network customer manager, Tim Phillips, said: "The repair went according to plan and we didn't encounter any extra difficulties, so we were able to restore supplies well within the time we allowed.

"We would really like to thank everyone for their support, particularly from businesses in the area, who were very co-operative and some of whom would have had to rearrange their processes."