A block of 10 homes was without water for almost five days after council staff broke a water pipe.

Properties in Dawlish House, Pleasance Place, Islington, had no running water from the afternoon of June 22 until 10pm on June 26 after contractors flooded the basement flat while doing maintenance work.

The couple in that flat were moved to a hotel but the rest of the block had to struggle on with just a few bottles of water over the weekend. A few more bottles arrived on Monday, but council officers told them they had run out.

Kary Anne Ward, 36, who lives in Dawlish house with her two-year-old son, said: “I was very annoyed because it wasn’t handled properly.

“How can you give someone with a child that amount of water? It’s a hygiene issue, plus I need to prepare my baby some food and do the cleaning. The flat was stinking by the end – how can you not wash your clothes for five days? It’s too much. I felt really abandoned.”

Debbie Lewis, 50, said: “It was awful – it was like living in a caravan but worse. We only had four bottles of water for everything. In the end I had to go to a neighbour for a bucket of water just so I could flush the toilet.”

Cllr James Murray, Islington Council’s executive member for housing and development, said: “We are very sorry for the disruption this incident caused to residents, and we have given residents �25 vouchers to apologise for poor communication whilst the problem was being fixed.

“Housing officers will be reviewing what happened to make sure procedures are improved for the future.”