Councillor Una O’Halloran, the leader of Islington Council, at the scene of Tuesday’s flooding

“GET off your backsides and do your job”, Islington’s council leader told Thames Water executives just hours after a burst water main in Caledonian Road destroyed businesses and left thousands without water.

Tuesday’s flooding coincided with a pre-arranged meeting at the Town Hall that evening, where the water company was due to update councillors on its work in the borough.

Instead, Thames Water’s executives came under fire as the company was accused of failing to invest in its Victorian-era pipes that run under Islington’s streets.

After Thames Water’s water director Martin Padley told the chamber it had improved response to emergency pipe bursts, council leader Councillor Una O’Halloran said: “You think you’ve done better – you haven’t. The money you make, and you sit here year after year making the same mistakes. How many bursts does it take? Do you want to wipe us out? Apologies are not good enough.

“We want action. We had 11,000 people on local estates without a drop of water, and we’re there picking up the pieces. Where is your protection for the people of Islington? You need to pay out quickly and sort yourselves out. I’ve got no words.

“You will go home tonight to your nice dry home while people [in Islington] will be looking around at their worldly goods, destroyed. Get off your backsides, do your job, and start investing in Islington.”

Councillor Dr Hannah McHugh showed two photos to the chamber – one of Caledonian Road on Tuesday, and another of Canonbury Street last August, when a burst pipe forced dozens of residents from their homes in the middle of the night.

She said: “This is not something from The Day After Tomorrow, this is not Venice, and this is not an extreme weather documentary.

“This is the effect of the decay and the failure of our basic water infrastructure. And it keeps happening.

“I don’t think it’s a coincidence that we’re scrutinising Thames Water tonight on the same day that Caledonian Road flooded. If anything it might have been harder to find a day when something like this wasn’t happening in London.

“We’re not asking for the impossible in Islington, we’re asking for a basic public service. Clean, safe, running water, not through the streets, through the taps.”

Regulator figures show that more than £7billion has been paid to the company’s shareholders since the water supply was privatised in 1989.

Dame Emily Thornberry, the Islington South MP, also attended the meeting. She said: “There were people going up and down the Caledonian Road in boats – what the hell?

“These are not businesses that will have insurance adequate for them to survive. If it was the only time it had ever happened then I think it would be different, but the trouble is it just keeps happening.”

Residents and councillors further criticised the handling of Canonbury Street flooding last August.

Mr Padley apologised for both incidents, and told how the company had not paid dividends to its shareholders since 2017 and is instead reinvesting into its largest ever programme to upgrade the ageing water infrastructure, including in Islington.

The issue of recent dividends was disputed by councillors in neighbouring Camden at a separate meeting with Thames Water representatives on Tuesday, where figures used by OFWAT were read out.

The regulator announced last May it was fining the company for “undeserved dividends”.