Residents have accused Thames Water of ‘not having any duty of care’ towards their customers after 15 homes were left without water for five days.

The water supply at the properties in Charlbury, near Witney stopped working last Friday (March 10) and was restored on Wednesday (March 15).

But the fix is only temporary as the root of the problem has not been solved.

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The houses affected were a mix of housing association, private and rental properties.  

Elderly residents were unable to take a bath or shower in their own homes during the outage.

Roy Shayler, who has lived in one of the affected properties for 68 years, said: “With the price we are now paying for water, I think it is disgusting.

“They [Thames Water] just don’t listen.

“We had not a spot of water coming through the house.

“We were filling buckets with rainwater so vulnerable people could flush their toilets.”

He explained that leaks have been a persistent problem at the properties.

Mr Shayler said: “It has been going on for months and even years.

“There have been leaks and no pressure, but it has really hit us this time.

“You couldn’t have showers; you couldn’t have baths.”

The residents in the houses in Charlbury pay their water bills to Thames Water.

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But the water company claimed the issue was not their responsibility as the leak was on a private pipeline.

Resident Alice Bradley explained that the overall feeling among residents was that of disappointment with the water company.

She said: “The residents are unified in their frustration at Thames Water.

“It was unclear where the next delivery of water was going to come from and Thames Water were being so dismissive of everyone that tried to engage with them.  

“The house where the link occurred belongs to a private resident.

“But there is no way I can just start digging holes in my neighbours’ gardens.

“We were completely powerless in being able to fix our water and Thames Water just said its not our problem.”

Some of the properties that were affected are owned by Cottsway housing association.

The Charlbury residents have praised the effort the association made to deal with the issue.

Ms Bradley added: “Cottsway phoned and said we don’t think it is our responsibility to provide you with water- but we will talk to you about who is vulnerable and we will try and get water to you.

“The conversations I was having with Thames Water were utterly dismissive of the problem and any duty of care towards their customers.

“We were just asking Thames Water for some reassurance that some water would be provided so we can fill our toilet systems if we run out of rainwater.

Thames Water were contacted in response to these claims.

A Thames Water spokesperson said: "On Saturday 11 March, we responded to reports that a number of properties near Burford had low water supply.

“Our engineers attended to investigate and found the leak was located on a private pipe line and is therefore the responsibility of the property owner.

 “If the water pipe is on a shared supply, such as side-by-side-layout or on a terraced street, then the neighbours have joint responsibility for maintaining the shared part of the pipe.”