Water bosses bonus should be used to fix leaks call

Thames Water should have its £2.4m exec bonus banned for failing to fix leaks according to West Berkshire’s Liberal Democrats.

They are calling on the Government to ban bonuses for Thames Water after revealing it paid its company executives ‘eye-watering bonuses’, despite failing to fix leaking pipes ahead of this summer’s drought.

They say the water company is to blame for West Berkshire now facing the prospect of weeks of hosepipe bans.

Liberal Democrat spokesperson for Newbury Lee Dillon has said the money paid in bonuses to top executives should be going into fixing the leaking pipes instead.

He said England’s water company bosses have awarded themselves almost £27m in bonuses over the past two years, despite reports they allow a staggering 2.4bn litres of water to be leaked every day.

“It is outrageous that whilst thousands of people in West Berkshire look set to be soon suffering from hosepipe bans, water company bosses reward themselves with these bonuses despite not even bothering to fix leaks,” said Mr Dillon.

“The worst part is, ministers are just letting water firms get away with scandal after scandal and residents in our area are sick of it. These are the very same water companies which pollute our local rivers with disgusting sewage, harming animals and people swimming in them.

“It is time someone stood up to these companies and demanded action. That should start with fixing these leaks, and then once and for all ending the sewage pumping into waterways.”