Water from a burst water main rushed down a businessman's driveway and into the yard where he stores expensive machinery.

George Rawlinson, owner of A&A Sims Lawnmowers in West Hyde, stores the lawnmowers he services and repairs at the rear of his Old Uxbridge Road home.

But on Monday morning, workmen reportedly went through a near-by water main and water gushed down the sloped drive towards a neighbouring fence, where dozens of lawnmowers are stored.

Some of the lawnmowers were left in water and the buisnessman now has to wait for the water to drain away before assessing the damage. 

Mr Rawlinson said: “I think this could cost somewhere in the region of between £1,800 to “£2,000.

“There are big bits of stuff, cylinder lawn mowers, which are rather expensive and quite a few rotary lawnmowers.

“Down towards the fence, it is about ten or eleven inches deep. At the bottom of the fence, near where water will go into next door’s garden and down that end of the yard, you are looking at about 18 inches to two feet of water.

“Some of the more expensive machines are down that end. Quite a few of the machines down the bottom there are customers’ machines.

“We have had a few problems with water but from this type of velocity of water, we have never had anything like this before”.

The business owner said he is now going to have to buy sandbags to prepare for any other potential incidents while Affinity Water continues the work outside his home.

He added: “Realistically, it will take a week to try and resolve some of the issues because if we can3not use some of the engines, then we really will be scuppered because we are talking about £400 to £500 per engine”.

The water company is scheduled to be working at the junction between Chalfont Lane and Old Uxbridge Road until Sunday.

Emergency services cordoned off a section of Old Uxbridge Road due to flooding and a police van blocked off the entrance to Old Uxbridge Road, preventing motorists from entering the flooded road.