Residents in Bedfordshire are facing a third night without water after a damaged valve cut off supplies on Friday evening.

The fault has affected the area surrounding Leighton Buzzard, which is home to about 40,000 people.

While service resumed for many customers on Sunday afternoon, supplier Anglian Water has said a “smaller number” of homes remain without water. The company explained that while the valve was repaired on Saturday night, the Leighton Linslade area still has no water because of an “air pocket” in the system.

The supplier had initially said the issue would be fixed by Saturday, before pushing back the deadline to Sunday and, now, Monday.

On Sunday, residents had to queue for 45 minutes for free bottled water after two nights with no supplies. Anglian Water also offered to deliver bottles to vulnerable customers, including the elderly and parents with young children, on their WaterCare register.

After queuing for the bottled water, local resident Maria Power told PA Media: “The situation is disgraceful it should have been resolved by now.

“I’m angry at the water company that they are going to leave people without water for nearly 48 hours.”

Another resident reported local shops had run out of bottled water.

At its peak, the outage affected about 12,000 homes in the Bedfordshire area.

The water supplier tweeted: “We have extended the deadline for this repair until midday tomorrow [Monday] to allow those customers who remain off water chance to make provisions for the rest of the day.”

Apologising for the delays, Anglian Water stated: “We know it’s been incredibly frustrating for our customers that timescales have changed over the last two days and not all supplies have been restored at the same time.

“Our estimates are always given with the best of intentions for returning things to normal, but on this occasion it has proved an unusually complex issue to resolve, with challenges that could not be predicted emerging along the way.”

Despite residents’ frustration, local Tory MP Andrew Selous tweeted: “Many customers supportive given what a complex issue Anglian Water dealing with.”

Anyone who needs to be added to Anglian Water’s priority service register should call 0800 145 145.