A mum from Reading has blasted Thames Water after being left without proper water pressure for days, saying the company is holding the public ‘in contempt’.
Steph Mitchell, a mum of two special needs children living in Newtown experienced a loss of water pressure for days in January last year and has still not received compensation.
Matt Rodda, the Labour MP for Reading Central has been engaging in a year-long push to get Thames Water to compensate Ms Mitchell.
Although a loss of pressure re-occurred in October, Ms Mitchell still hasn’t received compensation for the service loss.
She said: “Mr Rodda said we should be getting it.
“If you’re paying for something and then you don’t get it, you expect recompense, even a sorry.
“It sounds like they’re not recognising there was an issue at all. It was a trickle of water for 24 hours, but it wasn’t fully sorted three or four days down the line.
To my mind Thames Water holds customers and the government in contempt, the directors still get money whether they deliver or not, it’s ludicrous.
“We didn’t get water when there was an outage, we had to buy water from a store.
“It happened again in October it was only a few hours, but again you don’t have water at the last minute when you need it, the children need baths, we all need water to drink – it’s not ideal.”
The Labour government’s Water (Special Measures) Bill if passed would ban the payment of bonuses to water bosses if they fail to meet environmental standards and empower water The Water Services Regulation Authority (Ofwat) to impose automatic fines for environmental offences.
Asked for her verdict on these policies, Ms Mitchell said: “Fines have their place, but it has to be something that has an impact.
“I don’t think water should be privately owned, I don’t know what the point of Ofwat is, they’re [water company bosses] still getting bonuses.
“There’s a distinct lack of strategy from the current administration – there’s been 14 years or more for people not being taken into account for not doing their job properly.
“The current administration has got a lot on their plate – I don’t think infrastructure organisations should be used for profit, that’s my personal opinion.
“This shows me they are putting profit before their responsibilities before the people of Reading and beyond – and the other companies are the same.
“Mr Rodda is a really good constituency MP, I really value his support, and I know I’m not the only one, he’s been prodding Thames Water for a year on our behalf.”
Mr Rodda said: “Residents have been treated very badly by Thames Water.
“Water supplies were cut off over a weekend in January last year but the company still has not compensated them, even though they were not able to wash, shower and had no water for cooking.
“I am deeply disappointed with Thames Water and I am taking the residents’ case to the water regulator, Ofwat.”
In reply, a spokesperson for Thames Water said: “We are sorry to those who experienced no water across Reading for a number of days in January 2024 following leaks and airlocks in our pipework, which occurred as a result of the cold weather.
“Where eligible for compensation, customers’ Thames Water accounts were automatically credited.
“This was calculated under our Customer Guarantee Scheme and would have been processed in 20 working days once water supply had returned.”
