Businesses and residents in Rye and Camber say the compensation offered by Southern Water after the supply was cut is nowhere near good enough, and have urged the company to think again. Thousands of homes and businesses were left with no water or low pressure for several days in September and October after a leak at the Udimore Reservoir.
The Mermaid in Rye has been given just £75 to compensate for days without water pressure and hundreds of cancellations, costing over £35,000. Owner Judith Blincow said she thought the letter confirming the amount was a joke. “I couldn’t believe it. We lost 380 reservations in the hotel and restaurant, so £75 is pathetic. Why bother? It’s just an insult.” As well as being angry about the amount of compensation, Judith is also questioning how it was calculated. “Everyone has been ringing me to compare the amount they’ve been given. None of the credits make any sense. One business told me they got £750 and they’ve only got one toilet.”
During the water cuts, water stations were set up in Rye and Camber with thousands of bottles of water also delivered to homes and businesses. Southern Water says those affected have been given between compensation from its guaranteed standards scheme, but there are also questions over how the amounts awarded have been calculated for residents too.
John Bradford, a Camber parish councillor, told Rye News his bill has been credited with £30 which the water company says is the equivalent payment for being without water for 12-24 hours. “It’s derisory. Without water for 12-24 hours? That’s a serious underestimate that needs challenging. Some priority bottled water deliveries did not arrive for four or five days, let alone the lack of supply to the home taps. We need Southern Water to produce evidence.”
Helena Dollimore, Labour’s candidate in Hastings and Rye said: “I am calling on Southern Water to do the right thing for residents and businesses by going beyond the Ofwat bare minimum compensation guidelines. For those businesses and families under severe financial strain, emergency grants should be given. And I’m calling on the government to reform these Ofwat guidelines urgently.”
A Southern Water spokesperson told Rye News: “We would like to apologise again to all those affected by the loss of supply and low water pressure in Rye. The situation was particularly challenging at the time, due to the burst pipe’s location under the railway line and was fixed as quickly as possible, as we worked round the clock to restore supply. In terms of compensation for people affected, we have made payments totalling £173,300 to 2,705 customers through our guaranteed standards scheme, in amounts varying from £30-£300. As a further apology, we are looking into making grants to community organisations in Rye, to reaffirm our commitment to the customers and communities we serve.”
Image Credits: Nick Forman , KT Bruce .
What’s going on here? When there was a water supply problem back in the summer, villages around Rye were without water for a much shorter period. I was amazed to recieve not just compensation (credit to the the water account) of much more that £75.00 but then a further sum as compensation for the fact that the Water Company did not pay the first sum quickly enough! I am actually not much in favour of the Compensation Culture but it should at least be standardised if it is to exist. And frankly, whilst being without running water is extremely inconvenient to householders, the financial impact on business can be really serious and I gather indeed was so. Surely any compensation offered should reflect this?
We will ALL be paying for all that bottled water and these compensation payments. Even those who did not receive them!
Water should NEVER be privatised.
A refund on bills (for water not provided) is surely different to compensation for business loss or loss of amenity. Clearly, they’re different things. People ought to be refunded for something they didn’t receive, but there should be an additional adjudication for loss resulting in the break in service – and an easy way to pursue it. Clearly, The Mermaid’s consequent business losses aren’t covered by a derisory seventy-five quid… Moreover, what was the resultant loss to the town’s other businesses from those tourists that did not come?
There are standards set out by Ofwat, including on water pressure, but the standard compensation of £25 can only be claimed once in a financial year and it has to have happened twice! Moreover, there are various caveats and the affected party often has to write to the company to make their claim – if you’re running a business or a family, when are you going to have time to do that? The power is in the hands of the water companies, and Ofwat is toothless, which is why it should be replaced by a regulator with actual potency.
May I make another (slightly petulant) point? Is it now obligatory for Rye News to shoe-horn into any story the latest long distance ‘call’ by Labour’s absentee Parliamentary candidate? It’s just cut and paste political spin. At least if you’re going to bore everyone to death with politics (as I regularly do!) bother to write an article…
Guy, Helena’s activity in relation to the Southern Water fiasco is well documented and she has been anything but absent. She was directly involved in raising general as well as specific issues on behalf of local people as was I and it is something many Rye and Winchelsea residents can testify to. On 30th September Helena, me and 20 volunteers visited many homes in the area picking up issues on the doorstep and dealing with them. There is no spin here but there is plenty of listening to local people and action on their behalf.
No beef with you, Si. In fact, my comment was addressed to Rye News.
But as you say, when the Labour candidate visits Rye her activities are always very “well documented”. 😉
Anyway, enjoy the wet weekend, Simon. All the best.
It must seem like all the political Christmas’s have come at once for the Labour candidate, Rye is lurching from one disaster to the next.
Ms Dollimore has absolutely nothing to lose and everything to win by telling us what she would do when and if she gets elected, I doubt her letters carry anymore weight than the rest of us should we decide to write and complain.
What will be interesting will be if she gets in how many letters of complaint she will write especially if as predicted it’s her party that is governing us.
As stated above it does sometimes look like the Rye News has a leaning towards the left, perhaps you should rename it The Rye Mirror.
No pleasing people. We had not long ago accusations being too conservative because of Sally Anne’s Hart letters and now we are leaning left because Helena Dollimore is mentioned as doing a good job.
But of course debate is a good thing.
Hi, Heidi. I wasn’t implying bias, bcs I don’t think Rye News is remotely biased. It has a very difficult job to manage competing voices and does it well. To clarify, my point was that Cllr. Dollimore cropped up in a news article, apropos of nothing, and what appeared to be a prepared statement had been provided in her name. I stand to be corrected, but apparently no other local parties were approached for comment – despite the fact that they all have relevant policies and can all readily make rhetorical ‘calls’ to sustain their profile. So this provides a platform for a parliamentary candidate outside of the ‘Letters’ column, where I understood political content would appear. That’s all! Great work otherwise!!!