Water gushed from a burst pipe into traders’ premises along Pentonville Road [Simon Lamrock]

THE images of a deluged King’s Cross, with shopkeepers stacking Pepsi bottles at sodden doorways to keep a flood out, look like a Shakespearean storm struck Pentonville Road last weekend, (Businesses counting the cost of latest flood chaos, August 22).

But this was no act of nature – it was a preventable disaster. Water gushed from a burst pipe into several traders’ premises along the busy road. Floorboards, fridges and front doors were damaged in the early hours of Sunday morning.

The newsagents Harris Food and Wine faces a £7,000 repair bill; and Honest Burger lost two and a half days of trade after its electricity was cut for safety reasons.

It should be a rare event, but incidents like these have become almost routine in Camden.

In 2022, Swiss Cottage residents were evacuated from their homes via a rubber dinghy just before Christmas due to a burst mains.

You don’t have to travel far in London to spot a blue Thames Water road sign saying “thank you for your patience” surrounding a fenced-off bubbling stream of water.

Thames Water was privatised in 1989. What we’ve witnessed over the past three decades is a company more focused on delivering returns to its shareholders than on providing reliable, safe and affordable water services.

Infrastructure has been underfunded and reservoirs sold off to prioritise investors. The result is near-constant bursting pipes, raw sewage spills in our rivers and increasingly exasperated residents – and voters.

The case for nationalisation is obvious.

Water is not a commodity to be bought and sold. Having access to clean, safe water and sanitation is a universal human right recognised by the United Nations.

Last weekend’s flood hit new prime minister Sir Keir Starmer’s constituents of Holborn and St Pancras.

In 2021, Mr Starmer told this newspaper that Labour believes our water should become “common ownership”. He said, following a flood in South End Green, “water should be run in the best interests of the environment and consumers – not shareholders”.

Labour has since backtracked on this position. Mr Starmer said nationalising debt-riddled Thames Water would cost the taxpayer in a way that would “not be consistent” with the party’s fiscal rules.

The party will instead “hold these companies to account” and ensure they invest in their infrastructure.

The businesses and residents along Pentonville Road – Mr Starmer’s backyard – may disagree over whether that has been achieved.

It’s time to bring this essential service back into public ownership, where it belongs.