Blog

An “angry pig” confronted engineers in a London street, delaying their repair of a burst water main before it was led away with a bag of crisps.

The pipe burst on Lamberts Road, Surbiton, damaging nearby railway equipment, which caused train delays.

Thames Water said their efforts to reach a valve to cut the water were initially hindered by “a large pig” which was “acting aggressively”.

It is not known what flavour crisps were used to lead it away.

Damage caused by the flooding of tracks and signalling equipment meant limited trains have been able to run along the line.

Disruption is currently expected to last until 16:00 GMT although Network Rail said engineers were carrying out inspections.

Thames Water said engineers “were quickly on site” to deal with the burst 120cm (48 in) pipe, but they had been unable to initially carry out the work because of the pig, which is thought to be someone’s pet.