SCOTTISH Water have praised their staff and also thanked the 12,000 households in Inverclyde who were cut-off from the network for over 12 hours due to a burst pipe.

The rupture of an 18-inch main at Whinhill Primary in Greenock on Wednesday afternoon knocked out supplies to homes in Greenock, Gourock, Wemyss Bay and Skelmorlie.

The burst sent water gushing down from the school area and emergency teams swung into action to deal with it, working through the night on repairs.

Water was tankered into various locations to minimise disruption while emergency works were carried out and bottled water collection points were set up.

With supplies fully back to normal, Scottish Water bosses are 'offering their sincere thanks to thousands of customers'.

John Griffen, operations general manager at Scottish Water, said: “We know how frustrating it is to be without water and no matter the scale of the incident we always do our very best to get services back up and running for customers as quickly as we can.

"We thank the thousands of customers affected by this burst and really appreciate their patience while we took on the huge task of getting water distribution points set up while the repair was under way.”

He added: “I would also like to thank our teams who worked tirelessly through the night and into the small hours to complete the complex repair, and those who provided support to customers delivering bottled water to those in need and staffing water stations. It was a fantastic team effort from all involved and everyone has done a sterling job.“