Villagers near Banbury are still fighting for compensation after water outage on one of the hottest days of the year

On July 18, a pipe burst in the village of Eydon in West Northamptonshire leaving the residents of Chipping Warden without water in their homes for about 24 hours, making life difficult for them on one of the hottest days of the year.

One of the village residents, Vicky Wright, claims that the water provider broke Ofwat regulations when dealing with the situation in Chipping Warden and that many of the villagers are still waiting for the compensation money they are entitled to.

Vicky said: “We should have all received automatic rebates for not having a supply of water, which was £30 for the first 12 hours and then another £30 for the rest of the time

“They didn’t pay as they should have, which meant that they were then liable to pay a further £20 for not paying in the time frame they were supposed to.

"Eventually, they gave half the village a refund of £50 because Anglian Water claimed the water was off for only 23 hours and 15 minutes, so they didn’t count the second 12 hours, which I dispute.

“Anglian Water’s research suggests the other half of the village had water in the pipes before the first 12 hour mark, so they are refusing any compensation at all to those residents.

“It all seems fairly ludicrous how they have worked it out because we have roads further from the mains which have been refunded and the roads in between which haven’t, it seems random.”

According to villagers, the roads that have not yet been compensated are Mill Lane, Hogg End, Allens Orchard and the Culworth Road, because Anglian Water’s study shows there was a sufficient amount of water in the pipes that feed those areas.

Vicky said: “I think they are trying to wriggle out of their statutory obligations. I along with many other villagers have exhausted their complaints process and are now appealing to the adjudicator.

"I have asked for a plan of the water main and pipes in the village because of the random allocation of refunds but they have told me they cannot provide that, so it’s going to make it more difficult for the independent adjudicator to investigate.”

A spokesperson from Anglian Water responded, saying: “I can confirm that customers in the Chipping Warden area who were affected by the burst in July have received a compensation payment.

"We already compensate customers above the agreed water industry standard to ensure we provide an appropriate level of compensation should they experience a prolonged interruption to their water supply.

"The amount customers receive is based on a detailed, technical assessment of how the interruption impacted each household, but on average is equivalent to the cost of a month’s water.

“The assessment involves analysis of a number of different sources of information, including pressure levels, monitors that measure water flow in our pipes, and from our treatment works as well as what our engineers recorded on the ground.

“We’re very sorry for the inconvenience caused to our customers in Chipping Warden and we know it couldn’t have happened at a worse time during the hot weather. "