A burst water main near Victoria Station caused travel chaos on Tuesday morning after several feet of water was sent shooting in the air.
The incident at around 5am on Victoria Street in central London caused eight buses to be put on diversion as engineers closed off the westbound section of road to fix the burst pipe.
The road was partially blocked at Vauxhall Bridge Road before reopening at around 8am as engineers worked to fix the problem.
A witness at the scene said: “I spoke to the engineers, and they’ve put a digger over the top of it to stop it squirting out. They said an old Victorian pipe had caused it, it happened at about five this morning.
“Everyone was getting a free car wash, all the buses and everything.
“It’s a bit of a disaster zone that an old Victorian pipe can cause this kind of disruption.
“They’ve stopped it now until Thames Water can get out to fix it.”
TfL said bus routes 3, 11, 26, 148, N11, N26, N44, and N136 were put on diversion as Thames Water attempted to repair the burst pipe.
Buses westbound towards Victoria are being diverted via Rochester Row and Vauxhall Bridge Road, missing the stops for Westminster City Hall and Westminster Cathedral / Victoria Station.
Buses eastbound are diverted via Victoria Street, Grosvenor Gardens, Lower Grosvenor Place, Bressenden Place, and Victoria Street, but are not missing any stops.
