Anglian Water: Anger as thousands left without running water for a second night

Thousands of people have been queuing for bottled water after losing their mains supply for a second night.

An area of about 40,000 people was affected when the outage hit on Friday evening.

Anglian Water says it has restored supplies to “many customers” – but “some in Leighton-Linslade, Pottsgrove, Milton Bryan and Southcott are still without water”.

Billpayers say they are furious that fixing the problem is taking so long.

Maria Power had to queue for 45 minutes at a Tesco in Leighton Buzzard where Anglia were offering free bottled water to those affected.

The 34-year-old said: “There was probably 50 people in front of me, and it continued growing behind me.

“The situation is disgraceful it should have been resolved by now.”

Local resident Dave, 39, said: “As I passed (the water queue) two friends drove by and called out ‘we’re off to Milton Keynes for a shower’. It is shocking.

“‘Love Every Drop’ is Anglian Water’s slogan, but my cat had the last remaining water I had, that was what was left in the kettle.”

Anglian Water, which has apologised to customers, says the problem was initially caused by a broken valve and then by “air trapped in pipes”.

It also said it is using tankers in the meantime to “bring as many people back on to water as possible”.

Ms Power said she could not understand why it had taken so long to restore supplies, adding: “Apologies don’t quite justify the timescale.

“I’m angry at the water company that they are going to leave people without water for nearly 48 hours.”

Anglian said on Sunday the problem would be solved “later on this afternoon”.

Earlier during the weekend, it had said the problem would be resolved by midday on Saturday.

Anglian has offered to hand-deliver bottled water to vulnerable customers on their WaterCare register, though some residents have said they were unaware of the scheme.

The company said in a statement: “We are really sorry customers in Leighton Linslade are still without water.

“We know it’s been incredibly frustrating for our customers that timescales have changed over the last two days and not all supplies have been restored at the same time.

“Our estimates are always given with the best of intentions for returning things to normal, but on this occasion, it has proved an unusually complex issue to resolve, with challenges that could not be predicted emerging along the way.”

(c) Sky News 2019: Anglian Water: Anger as thousands left without running water for a second night