Residents left without water for a considerable period during a mains burst will receive compensation, a utilities company has confirmed.

Thousands of homes are thought to have been cut off or left with low water pressure after a 36in pipe on Burnley Road in Altham burst on Tuesday, September 27.

Queues formed as emergency tanks containing 1,000 litres of water were set up in Accrington, Oswaldtwistle and Clayton-le-Moors for residents left without supplies.

More than 20,000 bottles of water were also handed out to people and seven schools shut during the incident.

Free use of showers and toilet facilities was being offered by Hyndburn Leisure Centre.

On Friday, September 30 United Utilities engineers confirmed taps in homes, schools and businesses in the affected areas were back to normal.

A spokesman for the company said residents would receive letters in the next few days confirming how they could make a claim.

He said: "Residents who were without water for a considerable period as a result of the recent water burst in Hyndburn will receive compensation from United Utilities.

"We will be writing to those customers in the coming days. We have yet to finalise the amount of compensation, but will be making this decision soon."

According to the United Utilities website customers can expect payouts after 12 hours without water and additional payments for every 12-hour period on top of that.

Pensioner Terry Clifton, 79, a carer for his disabled wife Margaret, who lives on Church Street, Church, said: "Over 36 hours I had six two-litre bottles of water so I would be pleased if they knocked something off our bill or wrote to us regarding compensation.

"We will see if something happens but it will be great if it does."

United Utilities said they were very glad that families were now able to use their water as usual.