A Large Pig Named Pickle Disrupted Engineers As They Tried To Fix A Burst Water Pipe In London

A video posted on Twitter by South Western Railway shows the rail route being flooded by water from the pipe. The railway is one of the busiest in the country, and thousands of customers were affected.

According to BBC London Travel’s Twitter account, the pipe caused a number of road closures as well. Utility Thames Water told the BBC that the pipe was positioned in a field that was home to a pig.

Engineers arrived at the site, but the pig hindered their attempts to shut off the water from the pipe. “Engineers were unable to access a valve as a large pig, believed to be a pet, was in the way and acting aggressively,” Thames Water said.

Engineers were hesitant to begin working on the pipe because they feared they would disturb the pig, who they thought was acting aggressively.

In an effort to fix the very urgent problem, “a customer helped lead the animal away with a packet of crisps,” according to Thames Water. The pig was led away from the pipe “to make sure both he and our engineers would stay safe,” the utility said.

Once the pig was moved away from the pipe and the workers, they were able to turn to the water off and stop most of the flooding.

When the problem was first reported, the pig was described as “large and angry,” but a spokesperson for Thames Water said the animal did not “approach anyone aggressively.” The spokesperson also described Pickle as a “big boy” weighing around 130 kilograms or 286 pounds.

Following the removal of the pig from the area, apologies were issued by South Western Railways and Thames Water. “We’re sorry to anyone who has had a longer journey than normal because of the road closure,” Thames Water told the Surrey Comet newspaper.

“We are sorry to passengers for today’s disruption into London Waterloo which was caused by a burst water main at Lamberts Road in Surbiton,” said Network Rail in a Twitter post.

As work on the pipe continued, the railways were reopened around 4 p.m. on Wednesday. Engineers will continue fixing the broken pipe on Thursday.

“Following a burst water main near the railway earlier today between #Surbiton and #Wimbeldon the line into @LondonWaterloo has now reopened,” Network Rail said on Twitter. “Trains are running though subject to delays as some disruption is expected into this eve.”