Flooding caused after squatters break water pipe in Golders Green (From Times Series)

Flooding caused after squatters break water pipe in Golders Green

2:05pm Wednesday 17th March 2010 in

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ILLEGAL squatters are believed to have tapped into a water supply in an abandoned house in Golders Green, causing months of flooding on the street.

People in the area had complained about huge pools of water on the pavement, in Finchley Road, which were spilling into the road and becoming a hazard to pedestrians when it froze over.

Officers from Barnet Council and representatives from Thames Water attended the boarded up detached house and found it was being used by homeless people.

A written council response to the issue, which was raised at last week's Finchley and Golders Green residents forum, said investigations found the squatters had “cut a service pipe in order to gain access to mains water”.

The statement added: “Consequently there is no method of turning the water off and it is running out from the garden on to the highway.”

Andrew Tucker, who passes the address on his way to a near by bus stop, put the question forward at the meeting, and claimed the leak had been on going since the middle of January.

He said: “You could see it flowing out over the pavement and it got quite slippery when it froze over.

“It was full of mud and leaves and was quite unpleasant to walk over. People were falling over and you had to be careful where you walked.”

A neighbour said both her and her daughter had slipped and hurt themselves on the ice.

She said: “It was terrible with the water, it was pouring out of the ground.

“I had to walk in the road because it was quite dangerous for a lot of people. I could not tell you how many people I have seen fall down there.”

Council officers attended the property again last week, but the squatters appeared to have moved on, a statement said.

Thames Water workers confirmed there was a a leak in the service pipe and turned off the outside stopcock on Monday in a bid to reduce the flow of water.

Both the council and Thames Water are attempting to contact the property owner.

A statement from the water company said: "As this is the property owners responsibility to repair, we will inform them of the leak and what they need to do next.

"If the leak is not repaired within a certain timeframe, we do have the powers to repair it and charge them for the work."