Angian Water promises £50 credit to Horncastle area customers

Company offers compensation to hundreds of customers affected by burst water main
Anglian Water handing out bottled water in TetfordAnglian Water handing out bottled water in Tetford
Anglian Water handing out bottled water in Tetford

Hundreds of Anglian Water customers will receive a £50 credit over the coming days as the company compensates people who were left without a mains supply for up to four days.

Anglian has insisted it did everything it could to help residents in Wolds villages when a burst mains pipe caused major disruption last week, with residents first reporting problems on Sunday March 5.

Initially, Anglian hoped to repair the damaged pipe on Sunday evening or Monday morning but the deadline kept being put back.

It was Thursday morning before the company was able to confirm supplies to all customers had been restored.

People living in Tetford and Hameringham were among the last to be re-connected.

Employees from the company toured the Wolds to hand deliver a letter to households.

The letter detailed the £50 credit - the equivalent of the average domestic water bill for two months - and said the company would consider additional compensation to worst affected communities. Businesses were also asked to contact the company.

At the height of the problem, around 1,000 properties and businesses were either without water or struggling with low pressure.

That prompted some complaints that Anglian could have done more to restore supplies.

However, a spokesman told the News that the burst main - under the River Bain near Asterby - was in the worst possible place, adding that the topography of the Wolds meant supplies to some villages were restored quicker than others.

The spokesman said: “The burst main was directly under the river so there were access problems.

“We brought in specialist equipment to tunnel under the river so we could lay a brand new pipe.

“We were also laying a second pipe so we could restore water supplies much more quickly in the unlikely event something like this happened again.

“Our engineers worked round the clock. We did everything we could. We would like to thank everyone for their patience and understanding.”

The company said it responded to individual pleas for help - ranging from vulnerable residents to farmers , who desperately needed water for their animals.

Owners of a village pub at the heart of the water supply crisis praised Anglian Water for its response and said it was unfair to blame the company.

Nikki Garnett, who runs the White Hart in Tetford, said locals were grateful for the company’s efforts.

She said: “We did have a few problems but Anglian tried to help with everything.

“We have B&B accommodation and Anglian even offered to do our washing for us.

“A local farmer had 16,000 chickens without water and the company sent a tanker up to make sure everything was okay. “I don’t know what more they could have done.”

Tetford was one of several villages where bottled water ‘stations’ were set up.

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