A water company has been blasted as being ‘hypocritical’ by residents after it failed to fix a leak for over 30 hours.

Gallons of water has been ‘gushing’ down Freshwater Road, in Walderslade, since Monday morning after a pipe was damaged while Southern Water was carrying out work to install metres.

Despite complaints to the company – which promotes a ‘use water wisely’ message – no one has been out to fix it.

One resident, Mrs Fagg, said: “I rang up to report it and I was put on hold for 45 minutes and had to listen to water saving messages about stopping dripping taps while there is fresh water gushing down the road outside and they’re not fixing it.

“We’re getting water metres installed and being told to cut down on water while we are literally watching pounds pour down the drain. It is hypocritical.”

Despite being told someone would ring her back, 24 hours later she had still not heard from the company – although the next morning workers were drilling another area in the same road.

“I hate to think how many swimming pools the wasted water could have filled,” she said.

“I know accidents happen, but you fix it – you don’t just leave it and not come back.”

A spokesman for Southern Water said: "One of our contractors was fitting a water meter and unfortunately the pipe the meter was attached to got damaged during installation. This resulted in a leak which required specialist repair. We contacted another one of our contractors to fix the leak however, for reasons we are investigating, this repair has taken longer than expected.

"We take leakage very seriously which is why we have one of the lowest leakage levels, per property, in England and Wales out of all the water and sewage companies.

"Our contractors are currently working on-site to resolve this issue as quickly as possible. We apologise for any inconvenience caused."