A burst water pipe in Headington, Oxford, has now been fixed, but Thames Water was last night still not sure what caused it.

Water started gushing out of the pipe in Old Road early on Tuesday morning, meaning about 2,000 Thames Water customers were left either without supply or reduced water pressure.

Engineers were on the scene from 7am, but water supply was not restored until mid-morning when the broken pipe was isolated and water was diverted to surrounding sections of the network.

Work on the six-metre section of pipe which needed to be fixed was completed at 11.50pm on Tuesday. Problems such as low pressure and a complete lack of water were reported from as far afield as Weyland Road in Headington Quarry and Snowdon Mede in Marston.

As well as homes, two of the hospitals in the area – the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre and the Churchill – had to rely on their emergency water tanks.

Oxford University ’s Old Road campus was also hit by the water shortage, as was Oxford Brookes University ’s Headington campus in Gipsy Lane, but the John Radcliffe Hospital was unaffected.

Thames Water spokesman Amy Weiser said the company was still not sure of the cause, adding that it could have been caused by anything from heavy road traffic to ground movement.