Water engineers have been forced to request police escorts following a spate of fire hydrants being set off in soaring temperatures.

And utilities bosses are warning they will take legal action after nine hydrants were illegally activated in Manchester and Salford in just 48 hours.

In one case, police were called out to assist engineers as they tried to repair a leaking fire hydrant in Harpurhey on Sunday night but were abused by an angry crowd.

On the same evening United Utilities were called out to Salford to shut down seven tampered fire hydrants.

And a further incident took place on Monday, as Mancheser was officially Britain’s hottest city with temperatures of 26C.

A high pressure jet of cold water was seen streaming onto the road in Gorton after it was vandalised.

Video footage, captured by Colin Mortimer, shows vehicles being sprayed as litres of water shoot out onto the Gorton Lane.

Water bosses say tampering with fire hydrants causes misery for householders as well as major problems for fire service crews if they need to access an emergency.

United Utilities warned that it would prosecute anyone who tampered with the hydrants.

A spokesman said: “We are grateful to the public for capturing these incidents on video and in pictures and we will use these images as evidence.

“A lot of these fire hydrants are used by the fire service in tackling fires.

“It lowers the water pressure for householders and for the fire service. It’s just mindless vandalism.

“It’s down to the weather at this time of year.

“We would ask our customers to take videos and pictures of any incidents like this and send them to us.”

UU said residents are likely to experience reduced water pressure in their homes until the fault is fixed.

Bosses have warned that anyone found vandalising fire hydrants will be prosecuted and UU will impose statutory powers under the Water Industry Act.

There are currently hundreds of thousands of fire hydrants located across the North West. UU is currently working to roll out ‘anti-tamper devices’ on some hydrants.

Anyone who would like to report an incident of vandalism can call police on 101, Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 or United Utilities on 0800 330 033.