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Severn trent - Ignorance? or Stupidity?


When is it ok to say I didn’t know guv? Or to plead ignorance? A lot of the time we get away with pleading ignorance in situations that actually with a little research we could have found out a bit more information. But for a Large Multi-national who supply a key service like Water I say it’s inexcusable.

Last night at approx 2am I was woken by an Irate resident stating that his water supply had been cut off and wether I could find out what was happening, I said I would try to find out but unlikely to get a response till the morning, he insisted that I found out as soon as possible because it was the Muslim month of Ramadan and people needed water to eat the pre dawn meal (Dawn being approx 3 am). He had a point , He along with millions around the world were about to embark upon another days fasting, without food and water for approximately 18 hours in the UK so it was vital that everyone had water.

My mum Along  with at least 4 other residents called me to check whether I had water , at this point my first reaction is to find water to get to my mum so they could begin their fast in comfort and then to find out what was happening, I headed down to the nearest Garage to buy some water, upon arrival, there were 3 other residents, buying water! Speaking to the attendant he confirmed he sold a fair bit of water, between 2-3 am last night!

Driving back up the road, I spotted a Severn Trent Van, with flashing orange lights , I stopped to question them about  what the emergency was and why they had cut off the water supply to an entire neighbourhood? Their answer was a routine check up and when I had explained what was going on, they pleaded I didn’t know guv!

Facts of the situation are that this was a planned exercise so they knew it was happening, there were no leaks & no emergencies.
They cut of the water supply for approx 45 mins (to be verified) but this info came from residents
No letter, no message, no contact no communication was given to any of the residents.
Severn Trent most likely did not know it was the month of Ramadan which is the month in which believers in the Islamic Faith Fast

My Analysis

Putting aside the religious festival for the moment, I say that it is inexcusable for Severn Trent to cut off water even for 30 mins without informing local residents even though it was in the middle of the night. As advance warning enables people to prepare. Think of the mothers that need water for their sick child or water to mix their milk to feed their baby with, In addition to this in today’s 24 hr society, people work different shifts so are up at all times of the night.

If you have the tools, the means and resources to inform people of an outage and you don’t, then that’s not ignorance that’s foolish. For a National/regional company not to know when a major religious festival is, that’s stupidity.
I hope lessons can be learn't and an investigation carried out to what went wrong and an apology issued. Residents can forgive but they won't forget.

The area affected was, Lark Hill, Wylds Lane, Victoria Avenue, London Road approx 300-500 homes (my estimate)

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