Schools shut and homes without water as pipe bursts in Perton

Residents in Perton were left with either no water or low water pressure after a pipe burst at a roundabout on The Parkway at around 1pm.

Perton Middle School, Perton First School and Perton Primary Academy were all affected and had to close as a result, although pupils were able to stay until transport was available.

A text message was sent to parents saying that pupils were being sent home throughout the early afternoon.

Alun Harding executive head of the Codsall Foundation of Schools, which runs the middle school, said: "Without water the toilets can't flush and there's no sanitation and food couldn't be prepared so we had to make the decision to close the school.

"We were not able to get a time frame for when it would be fixed - it's never a decision you want to make, but we had to close.

"Our children in key stage two and three, between ages nine and 12, have been sent home and we've been organising closely with the other two schools to make life easier for parents.

"Minibuses have been running to take children home who live in villages such as Pattingham, and parents also have the option to have their child wait with us at the school, until they can get home.

"We expect the issue will be fixed this evening and we will keep parents updated in time for tomorrow."

Severn Trent workers arrived at the pipe just after 2pm and were still working to fix the problem two hours later.

A Severn Trent spokesman said: “Our teams are currently working to fix a burst water pipe on Parkway Roundabout in Wolverhampton, that’s causing some of our customers have little or no water.

“We’re really sorry for the inconvenience, but we’re currently moving water around our network of pipes to get everyone’s water back on as soon as we can, and then we’ll focus on fixing the pipe.

“Again, we’re sorry to anyone who is affected, our priority will be to get things back to normal as quickly as possible.”