Thames Water’s biggest issue has been years of incompetence at managerial level. The inability to run a monopoly industry profitably in the wealthiest part of the country is staggering.A few years back TW’s subcontractors arrived jn our road at 9am on a Monday morning to undertake some repair works. They failed to notify residents in advance, despite it being a statutory requirement. They had diggers, temporary lights, fencing and all manner of plant on their trucks. A team of half a dozen workers were on site. A collapsed sewer we were told, eventually.For the next two days the workmen sat in their trucks, with not a single manhole lifted, hole dug or any semblance of work going on. Eventually, after some phone calls from me, a manager turned up on Wednesday lunchtime. One of the workers then went down into the sewer for a couple of minutes. On his reappearance the team promptly packed up their kit and left.I spoke to the manager - who had come all the way from Reading - and he told me nobody had ‘scoped out the job’ before the works order was put in. However, he reassured me that the cost of having a team sitting idle on-site for two and a half days was fine!What sort of business operates in that way?As it transpired the necessary work was nowhere near as complicated. A supposed two week job was done in a day.If that level of incompetence is replicated across the business it’s little wonder TW has become a basket case.The
Simon Hayes ● 250d