It's the Great Western no-Way!

Great Western Way was closed in both directions between the Mannington and Meads roundabouts for more than three hours yesterday.

The road was impassable and parts were submerged in 2ft of water.

Firefighters, police, council workers and Thames Water joined forces to fight back the flood and limit the damage.

One unfortunate driver became stuck trying to drive along the road and his vehicle had to be towed away.

The congestion was made worse by a minor collision between a heavy goods vehicle and a people carrier on the Meads roundabout at 9am.

Police were alerted to the flooding at 6.10am and the stretch of the Great Western Way was closed 20 minutes later.

Three fire engines were called to the scene and firefighters used three pumps to take up the water before pumping it into the nearby River Ray.

The main which burst was close to a row of furniture and carpet stores and, at one point, the water threatened to flood Mays Carpets, at Mannington roundabout.

"The water practically came up to our front door," said Mays receptionist Val Selby.

"It didn't get inside but if it had it could have caused quite a lot of damage."

Fortunately, the council's gulley sucker and the fire crew's pumps managed to stop the water and the stores escaped damage.

At Mays the flooding was contained in the car park and the store was able to open as normal.

The Great Western Way was eventually re-opened at 9.37am.

Andrew Boyd, of Thames Water, said that the cause of the burst main was unknown but not connected to the heavy rain.

One explanation might be changing ground temperatures, which cause water pipes to contract and expand, putting them under additional strain.

But Mr Boyd said the answer would not be known until a full investigation had been carried out.

"No one was directly served by the pipe so no one lost their water supply," he said.

"The main impact was on the road

"We're very sorry it had a knock-on effect on local drivers."

Andy Tate