WATER has been gushing out of a pipe for more than a year - and now fed-up residents are demanding it is fixed.

A leak sprang up in a house in Bushwood Road, Leytonstone, last winter.

The water is spewing out of a stopcock in a supply pipe at the front of a privately-owned property and running down a driveway, across a pavement.

Resident Robert Wilkinson, 56, said he has reported the problem to Thames Water three times in the past year, but nothing had been done.

He said: "There is a massive loss of water here at the same time as we are told not to waste it.

"It is also dangerous. The other day I slipped on it as it had turned to ice."

A council spokeswoman said tenants had acquired the freehold to the property, meaning that responsibility for fixing the leak lay with the homeowner and Thames Water.

A Thames Water spokeswoman said that it had asked the owners of both the houses which the pipe supplies to fix the leak, but they had not done so.

It has now served notice under Section 75 of the Water Industry Act 1991, allowing Thames Water to access the private land and fix the leak itself.

The spokeswoman did not specify when the work would be carried out, but assured readers it was "imminent".