A single mum was left astounded as Thames Water told her to call a plumber during a mass water outage near an Oxfordshire town.

The incident occurred late on the evening of Monday, September 9, across the village of East Challow near Wantage with multiple reports of an issue with supply.

One mother, who wished to remain anonymous, was alerted to the emergency as her children reported that the taps were not working.

After messaging neighbours and finding out that the problem was a widespread one, she got in touch with Thames Water, but was shocked at their response.

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An aerial shot of East Challow by Wantage.An aerial shot of East Challow by Wantage. (Image: Cotswold Archaeology)

“Their website takes you through a series of questions to report supply issues,” she said.

“The last of these asks whether the kitchen tap has any supply and is designed to identify if the issue is internal or likely to be external and therefore affecting others too.

“Despite reporting that the house had no water supply the website informed me I needed to call a plumber.

“As a single parent with previous experience of leaking pipes, this left me rather concerned.

“I managed to turn the stopcock off in an attempt to limit any damage internally, but I was very worried about potential leaks between my water meter and my house as this has previously occurred.

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The leak in the village.The leak in the village. (Image: Public submission)

“Had Thames Water responded more honestly and admitted there were known issues in the area I could have slept without worrying about waking up to a potentially very expensive problem.”

By the next morning, Thames Water had resolved the issue but the single mum was left feeling that more could have been done for her and her fellow residents at the time.

“Clearly there was a bigger issue and either they didn't update their website to provide the necessary explanation or their internal communications are not good enough,” she added.

“There is also an ongoing leak further down in my village that has been causing problems for a very long time.

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Thames Water's advice was not appreciated by the single mum.Thames Water's advice was not appreciated by the single mum. (Image: Newsquest)

“Thames Water is aware of it, but it appears to be causing serious damage that looks as though it may threaten the structural integrity of several houses and walkers are forced to use the road.”

Several complaints were made about the water outage with Thames Water receiving 10 inbound customer calls.

A spokesperson for the company said: "We responded to reports of a leak in East Challow on Monday evening.

“We're very sorry to customers who experienced no water or low pressure during this time.

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“Our engineers have now shut off the pipe ready to carry out the necessary repair and all customers should have water supply.

“We would ask customers who are experiencing issues to call our dedicated customer service team on 0800 316 9800.”

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