Yorkshire Water has been slammed by a Leeds council flat resident who feared someone might ‘break their back’ after a burst water main was left to flood across the entrance of the flats in icy treacherous conditions.
Farsley resident Mark Dacre, 59, has condemned the county-wide water company for leaving the ‘lethal’ burst pipe in front of Andrew House, in Water Lane, after it burst on Thursday, January 9, during the cold snap.
Yorkshire Water officers attended the following day but left to the water overflowing, only returning later that evening to fix it. For about 24 hours, water was flowing across the pathway in front of the building and down the steps leading up to the entrance, creating a waterfall effect.
‘Distressed’ Mark says workers attended earlier in the day but left as their van couldn’t access the location of the pipes. Yorkshire Water says they couldn’t fix it straight away due to the snow and ice.
Mark said: “We’ve had workmen down here already saying they can’t get up there because of their truck. What is their truck, is it some sort of special piece of equipment? It’s just b***s***. What they’re really saying is ‘We don’t know what we’re doing. We’ve just come around here and it’s a bit beyond our capabilities.’
The water flowed down the steps to the council block of flats
(Image: The water flowed down the steps to the council block of flats)
“When it get freezing tonight, people aren’t going to see it and it’s just going to look like normal steps. At four o’clock in the morning, someone is going to walk down there and break their bleeding back. It’s downright lethal.”
The 59-year-old added that he wasn’t happy with the way Leeds City Council managed the building’s repairs. He said: “It’s not really well maintained. They send random people down to do random jobs and they’ll put something down here and something else there, and the other person won’t know what the next person is doing.”
A spokesperson from Leeds City Council said: “The safety of our residents is always our primary concern. In this case, as with all incidents, we worked closely with partners and other agencies to ensure the repair was completed as efficiently and safely as possible with minimum disruption to our residents.”
Mark Dacre slammed Yorkshire Water after leaving a burst water main infront of a Leeds council block
(Image: Samuel Port)
A Yorkshire Water spokesperson said: “We were made aware of a burst main on Water Lane, Farsley, last Thursday, and completed the repair on Friday evening (January 10).
“Unfortunately, snow and ice meant that we were unable to complete the repair as quickly as we would have liked, as it was difficult to access the area with the equipment required.
“We understand customer concerns and apologise for the inconvenience, and will be reinstating the area as soon as possible.”
The water flowed down the steps in front of Andrew House
(Image: Samuel Port)
Get all the latest and breaking news in Leeds by signing up to our newsletter here.