Sad state of affairs (From Wharfedale Observer)

Sad state of affairs

3:30pm Thursday 4th June 2009

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WE live in madly litigious times where almost anyone, it seems, will visit a ‘no win no fee’ company for the slightest reason if they think there could be money to be made.

So it is completely understandable that companies large and small feel they have to tread very carefully, even at times when they may wish to respond quickly.

So most people can probably understand Yorkshire Water’s position when it says, in regards to the major water leak that has been causing considerable inconvenience to residents on Chevin Side since last Thursday, that it has to “follow procedure”.

But it is impossible not to feel sympathy for the householders who have watched, powerless, for the last seven days while torrents of water come out of the ground and past their houses – in some cases even getting into them – while the leak causes havoc with their boilers and water pressure.

Yorkshire Water is probably right to say, given the fact the water mains concerned is on residents’ property and technically their responsibility, that it simply daren’t act until written consent had been obtained from all the residents, otherwise it would have been leaving itself exposed to possible legal action.

But what a sad state of affairs that is. And while the technical niceties are debated, people on Chevin Side continue to go without hot baths or showers, cast a nervous eye on their cellars and garages and watch, helplessly, as gallons of water streams away to be wasted.

Would it be too much to hope that large companies who oversee the provision of such vital resources as water could somehow, perhaps with Government backing, be given emergency powers in such situations so they could act for the common good, quickly – and without fear of a lawyer’s letter?

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