* UPDATE: I have just had a call from Thames Water – the shutdown will happen on Monday the 19th…
MEMBERS of my community here in Mill Street, Oxford, received a letter from Bob Collington OBE, operations director of Thames Water.
This letter, reproduced below, is slightly alarming for a number of reasons. The first is that the “interruption to your water supply” will happen on Tuesday the 19th of August 2013 between 10AM and 4PM. Tuesday is not the 19th of August – it is the 20th of August.
Realising the anomaly, I decided to call up the 0845 number to ask what gives. 0845 costs, of course. Talked to a very nice chap who said that basically Thames Water had screwed up and I’d have to talk to another nice chap on another 0845 number in the morning.
Spoke to another nice chap. He said yeah it was a cockup and the interruption happens on Tuesday the 20th of August. I asked why. He said: “There are very few details on the file. But we’re changing the iron pipes to copper pipes on the estate.” He asked if I had iron pipes. I said, I dunno, haven’t dug up the front to find out.
I know some people round here. A few of them have had similar letters from Thames Water. I asked if Thames Water was going to clarify the cockup so they knew when the famous “interruption of service” is actually going to happen. No, said the nice chap. If they need clarification they will have to individually and severally contact Thames Water on the 0845 number.
You can email Bob at this address and I will be asking him to refund the money I’ve spent on behalf of my neighbours, all probably just as confuzzled as I am. ♥
