17 October (Part 1) - What is it about Thames Water?
More than once I have heard senior Bexley Council officers say that
Thames Water gives them more problems than any other utility. It won’t surprise anyone.
Last Thursday when Crossrail had their little problem with a water main and the
Thames Water foreman got shirty about me taking photos he placed cones in
Abbey Road which prevented access to Wilton Road from Abbey Road. (Photo 1).
I doubt he had authority to do any such thing because there is no alternative route to Wilton Road.
It
was possible to go up Knee Hill, round the roundabout and back again
from the South and squeeze past the cones that way so it is unlikely that
traffic in Wilton Road was much reduced. The cones therefore served no purpose
other than to frustrate traffic.
Within 24 hours the Abbey Wood station water main was sealed off but the cones
are still in Abbey Road right now preventing access to Wilton Road. Traders
there have had four years of disruption while the new station was built, they do not need any more.
Thames Water seem to make a habit of such things. When they did work outside my
house at the beginning of the year they went away and left the barrier and
heavy
lumps of cast iron in my garden. They never returned to collect anything.