ARE you angry at not being able to use a hosepipe to water your garden because a ban is being introduced on August 26 by Yorkshire Water while the company appears to ignore reported leaks?

On Wednesday August 10, I reported a small leaking manhole cover by the side of the new section of road from Skipton's Carleton Road to the Western Bypass. I was told it had already been reported the previous day, August 9.

On Sunday, August 14, it was still leaking so I reported it again and was told that new works had not been phased in at the moment but the leak repair would be escalated. On the morning of Tuesday, August 16, the day the Environment Agency announced Yorkshire was officially in drought - guess what! - it was still leaking so I reported it again.

What a disgraceful way to run a company, although it is not surprising since according to a national newspaper Yorkshire Water is heavily in debt and foreign-owned. So the money people pay for their water usage is going down the plughole to overseas owners.

And let's not forget that last month Yorkshire Water was ordered to pay a £1.6 million fine for 25 unauthorised spills into a watercourse in Bradford with the judge concluding it had been 'reckless in this offending' and that since 2021 it has been fined a total of £2 million.

Let's also not forget that former boss Liz Barber, who retired in May, was on a pay packet of £1.4 million. She has been replaced by Nicola Shaw, most recently UK executive director for the National Grid. Is that the company that performed so well during the last devastating winter storm? Not!

Josh Horne

Skipton

Yorkshire Water has been approached for a comment.