REFUSE and recyling crews worked until 11pm on Monday to collect household waste, after a burst watermain in Greenford disrupted services.

Ealing Council's contractor Enterprise was unable to complete its usual rounds on Monday July 8 because of severe traffic and difficulties in trying to reach its base at Greenford Depot.

Collections in Acton, Chiswick, Hanwell, Northfields, Ealing and Southall were disrupted but extra crews were put on duty to clear the backlog and worked well into the evening.

Shortly before 8am on Monday a mains burst in Greenford Road, flooding a dozen homes and gardens and cutting off supplies as far away as Hounslow borough, where 13 schools were forced to close.

Police and emergency services evacuated residents from flooded homes and Ealing Council established and ran a rest centre at Greenford Bus Depot.

A spokeswoman said: "This was set up pretty quickly for affected residents and was a place where they could have a shower and a cup of tea. The council also arranged to have a doctor down there to check people over. The team worked very hard all day to look after everyone down there. Our housing team also spoke to residents and made sure they had somewhere to go and gave advice. We temporarily re-housed one family."