Saga of leaking pipework in front garden that ran and ran

Published: 28 May 2010
by PETER GRUNER

WRITER and broadcaster Alex Pascall branded Thames Water staff “rude” and “unhelpful” this week after the company took seven months to repair a leak.

At one stage – in what Mr Pascall described as “like something out of Alice in Wonderland” – he said a Thames department threatened to fine him for failing to repair a leaking pipe, even though workers were still digging outside his house, trying to discover where the water was coming from.

Mr Pascall, 73, who helped found the Notting Hill Carnival and was awarded the OBE for his service to community relations, is complaining to water services watchdog Ofwat. He has also contacted Islington North Labour MP Jeremy Corbyn.

The leak appeared in his front garden in Crouch Hill, Stroud Green, back in November. The pavement outside his house was dug up three times in the search for a stopcock.

He had to pay private contractors £300 for the work, although most of that sum will be refunded by Thames Water. In the end the stopcock was discovered buried in Mr Pascall’s front garden. The leak was finally repaired this week.

“I’ve sent and received countless letters,” Mr Pascall said. “We’ve had engineers and workmen coming at regular intervals. But it was the discourtesy of the customer service staff that I am most angry about.

“They were rude to the extent that they made it quite clear to me they didn’t really care.

“I assume they have a call centre but I don’t know where it is based. It could be Coventry or India, Africa or Russia as far as I care. 

“But they speak to you blandly and when you try to explain because you are worried they become rude and offhand. I can deal with it but my wife found it upsetting. She didn’t want to deal with them anymore.

“The last straw for me was getting an enforcement letter threatening to fine me for the non-repair of the leak last weekend. Then I thought: ‘Do people at Thames Water speak to each other? Does anyone have any idea what is going on?’”

A spokesman for Thames Water said: “This was a leak – and not a straightforward one – in pipework owned by the customer, not us, which we have fixed free of charge.

“We went above and beyond our routine activities to engineer a solution to help Mr Pascall. 

“We are sorry he feels he has received such a bad service.”