Shops in the West London area are said to be running out of water supplies, with reports of people “fighting over bottled water”, after a massive shortage has left taps dry.





Thames Water says a “major” burst pipe at its plant in Hampton has caused the lack of water for up to 100,000 households.





So far, the W, TW and KT postcodes are all confirmed as affected.





With no water available in taps, it appears residents have been rushing to shops in the areas to stock up on bottled water.





One Twitter user said : “People have already been fighting over bottled water at my local supermarket! So much for the Blitz spirit, it’s survival of the fittest. Remember your housebound and vulnerable neighbours”





Several people affected have been messaging Thames Water to ask when bottled water will be distributed.





One said: “No water at home. No water in shops. Where will bottled water be stashed.”





Another Twitter user said: “Any update? Located burst main? Eta for repairs? Local shops fast running out of bottled water!”





Another added: “It is pretty chaotic in the shops as people panic buy bottled water..!!”





And those with young children have been particularly hard hit, with one parent saying to Thames Water: “We have a 9 week old baby who needs clean bottles etc. How can we access this bottled water. Will you be delivering it or does my wife have to endure huge queues with a small hungry screaming child?”





In a statement posted online, Thames Water said engineers were trying to fix the problem.





A spokesman added: “If we’re unable to do that within the next few hours we’ll make bottled water available across the affected areas and we encourage customers to keep an eye our feed for the latest updates.













In a reply to one Twitter user the company said: “We’re looking for the best place to hand out bottled water in case you need emergency supplies.”

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At the time of writing, Thames Water was yet to confirm where supplies will be handed out. Follow our live blog on the ongoing water outage for the latest updates.