Technically, probably not. But a leak, even a gentle trickling leak, allowed to go on for days, weeks, months wastes infinitely more water – precious water as Thames Water will keep telling us – than any hosepipe being used to spray the car, water a bit of the garden or any other normal use. Each incidence of which could result in a significant fine – up to £1,000 for breaking the ban.
Probably the rate of flow from this leak – in Lockeridge, just to the west of Marlborough – is very low, but this has been going on continuously for many months. 24/7. 365 days a year. How much water has already been wasted over this long period?
Has this been reported? Yes, but with great difficulty. By many, and the ‘experience’ of one who did report the leak is outlined below. Let’s call him ‘Mr Angry’ of Lockeridge…..
“After several calls to various call centres somewhere in Asia, no-one can explain why the customer services email address is no longer monitored; moreover, having finally got the ‘Customer Side Leak Team’ to answer their telephones, they tell me that the letters are automatically generated. They also told me that another department (’Thames Valley’) actually sent the letter but they cannot contact them directly. Incidentally, they were not aware that the Thames Water customer services email address was no longer monitored.
“I have also spoken to the Emergency Leak team who tell me that engineers attended in May and August; but cannot find any record of them attending since. I have told them that it is easy to see that the water is pulsing from the street side of the stop valve and not the customer side and challenged them as to why the letters were sent in the first place. They had no answer.
“It would therefore appear that Thames Water is in abject disarray and incapable of managing even the simplest of communications; and it is ironic that having sent out numerous communications begging us to carefully manage our water usage, they cannot deal with a repeatedly reported leaks.“
However, either Mr Angry’s reporting or that of one of the numerous other local residents did get through. So what did Thames Water do? They sent out a letter to one of the nearby residents and blamed them. To Thames Water this leak is on their property so nothing to do with Thames Water. The resident has made numerous attempts to contact Thames Water, experiencing similar ‘obstacles’ to those encountered by Mr Angry, but to date has not been able to get through, or have confirmation of getting through.
Looking at the leak, not a large leak but continuous and substantial over a period. It appears to be from an area at the side of the road and not anywhere near this resident’s property as noted in Mr Angry’s report above. If it is the valve, either side of which, then it is Thames Water responsibility. But we’re not experts, that’s the job of Thames Water engineers and they should be able to back up their claim with clear proof. Or just fix it. Then, and only then can this leak get resolved.
In the meantime it’s (maybe?) Thames Water doing the equivalent of breaching their own hosepipe ban whilst claiming ‘nothing to do with us guv’. In effect creating a delay and playing their equivalent of a ‘get out of jail free’ card. But if they did fine themselves, who would pay? Us, their customers. A ‘lose – lose’ situation for us all.
Robin Notton 1944 – 2025 – Obituary
