1.3 words a day

They say good things comes to he who waits. Well, we’ve waited. And waited. And waited a little more. And finally, 86 days after the event, Thames Water did manage to supply us with an explanation for the water bursts that occurred all over Maida Vale last November.

This is the information they have sent us:

"The first burst of these bursts in the Maida Vale area was on 1 November 2006. This took place on Malvern Road and was an 8" main. The burst led to higher pressures on Elgin Avenue, which caused the 12" main to burst. The 12" is the main feed into the area. The process of recharging these two burst mains in itself caused more bursts and problems in the Maida Vale area. This is due to the age of the mains, and is exactly the sort ofproblem which should be minimised in future by our current Victorian Mains Replacement programme, which is currently taking place in the Maida Vale area."

Wow. Just over 100 words in just under 100 days. That equals a production of about 1.3 words per day. Good going guys.

Insufficient explanation. Unacceptable delay. No apology. A rather lame attempt to justify the latest works being undertaken. No, no, no, no. This isn’t the way to treat local residents who pay your bills.

The one good thing to have come out of our request has been Thames Water’s offer of a meeting. We’ll certainly be taking that up, and we’ll let you know how it goes.

Lee