Calls for the resignation of South East Water chief executive David Hinton have grown from a trickle to a roar as tens of thousands of homes across Kent and Sussex are without water for the fourth day in a row, with no clear end to the crisis in sight.
Sir Keir Starmer has been urged to send in the army, and an investigation has been launched, as the failure comes just two weeks after another outage in the area affected 24,000 homes in Tunbridge Wells.
Now, many of the same people face further disruption, which may not be rectified until “at least the weekend”, The Independent understands.
South East Water has set up water distribution sites and staff told The Independent that around 1,000 cars an hour were arriving to collect bottled water.
Mike Martin, the Lib Dem MP for Tunbridge Wells, who previously called for Mr Hinton’s resignation, has said the government “needs to grow a pair, and call for him to go” too.
These calls have been backed by the leader of Kent County Council, Reform UK’s Linden Kemkaran, who has also written to the board of South East Water calling for Mr Hinton to be fired.
Mr Martin told The Independent: “I’m absolutely livid, along with all my constituents. We had two weeks without drinking water in December, and now we’ve got it again. Nothing that we learnt the first time round has been picked up this time round.
“There’s been really poor communication, poor crisis management, and it’s a shambles.
“I’ve written today to NatWest, which own 25 per cent of South East Water, to ask if they think this is acceptable.
“Quite simply Dave Hinton needs to go. The company is beset by groupthink and they can’t see all of the problems that they face.”
He said the government should go “much further” in terms of holding South East Water to account, and said “the government needs to grow a pair, and call for him to go”.
The water “is going to be on and off until at least this weekend”, Mr Martin told The Independent, adding, “just ignore what South East Water are saying – they don’t know what they’re doing”.
“Not only is the infrastructure depleted, but the leadership is rubbish and it’s that double whammy that’s causing all these issues.”
On Tuesday the parliamentary Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Efra) committee, to which Mr Hinton gave evidence last week, recalled him to parliament after the committee chair, Alistair Carmichael, said he and his colleagues remained “deeply sceptical” about the water company’s version of events.
Mr Martin said Mr Hinton’s evidence last week amounted to “misleading parliament and holding the House of Commons in contempt”.
Reform UK’s Ms Kemkaran said the local situation was “really bad” and went beyond affecting domestic concerns.
“This is day number four that people have been without water,” she told The Independent. “The problem has been moving around. One area would go off, then come back on, then a different area, and another, it’s been absolutely appalling. And I’m afraid the communication from South East Water has been absolutely abysmal. It’s not good enough.”
“It’s not just, ‘Can I have a shower before I leave for work?’ It’s affecting agriculture too. We have many, many farms here. I was speaking to a dairy farmer who didn’t have the water to flush out his milking equipment, so therefore all the milk he took from the cows the next morning had to be thrown away.”
She added: “Hairdressers can’t wash the dye out of anyone’s hair. Restaurants and cafes have all had to shut their doors. The problem stems from South East Water not investing and fixing the infrastructure. Dave Hinton’s position has become completely untenable. He’s been missing in action too many times now. He’s got to go.”
Across the area of Tunbridge Wells affected by the current outage, people are furious with the response from South East Water.
Chrissie Bayley, who runs a beauty salon, said the previous outage had meant she’d cancelled some clients, and said the ongoing uncertainty was impacting her business.
“You can’t actually rely on the water. I need to flush the toilet and allow clients to go only for a wee. I’ve had to wash people’s faces in Evian. It’s crazy.”
John Oliver, a local resident, told The Independent the current outage was even more frustrating than the last one: “Everything is intermittent. We had water today for 45 minutes. Then it went off, and that’s it. We had an hour yesterday.”
He said “The buck stops with [Mr Hinton]. His account at the select committee was so inconsistent. Hopefully he’ll be fired.”
David Ayre, who said he lives “just round the corner”, said: “We can’t wash, and it’s been going on such a long time, and the guy who runs it all is earning £500,000 a year. I’d like to see him (Mr Hinton) fired. He’s got to be held responsible for his actions.”
Another local resident, Niamh Taylor, said that Mr Martin was “really fighting our corner”, but that “in all honesty we just want to see (Mr Hinton) fired. We’ve been thinking of coming together and maybe involving solicitors. It’s been disgusting.”
The Independent has contacted South East Water for further comment.
