Staplehurst: Woman speaks of water supply struggle at Christmas

A woman who woke up on Christmas morning with no running water has said it felt as if the company responsible "didn't seem to care too much".

Jade Box from Staplehurst, in Kent, had been without water for a week until her supply was restored on 25 December.

On Christmas Day, South East Water said it had worked "round the clock" to fix a burst main in the village concerned.

In a statement, the company said it would be "reviewing its communication and wider lessons learnt".

Thousands of homes in the South East have suffered supply issues following a rapid thawing of snow and ice on 18 December, which the company said caused pipes to burst.

Mid Sussex MP Mims Davies tweeted the situation had been "truly horrible" for her constituents.

Ms Box said she was able to venture out for water on Christmas Day but some people would have been stuck at home "with no water on Christmas morning, nowhere to cook their food, nowhere to wash their hands or go to the toilet."

She said of South East Water: "They weren't giving much of a response [when I called]. They just didn't seem to really care too much".

The company's incident director Douglas Whitfield said: "Best efforts were made throughout this complex event to keep customers up to date.

"However, we realise this was a frustrating time for our customers and we will be reviewing our communication, as well as wider lessons learnt from this complex and fast moving event to make future improvements.

Meanwhile, he said the "few" remaining customers who were without water have now had their supplies restored, although some may be experiencing low pressure.

He urged anyone still without water to contact them so a technician could investigate.

He added: "We realise the service we provide our customers has fallen short over the past week and we will now be focussing on doing all we can to prevent these issues reoccurring in the future."

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