Severn Trent staff attacked with stones in Coventry while trying to fix water hydrants

[dutchman]

It happened in Wood End



Severn Trent staff have been attacked with stones while trying to fix water hydrants in Coventry. The water company was called to Wood End this weekend amid reports of issues with water supply in the area.

The root of the problem came from people tampering with hydrants so they could play in the water. When staff went to fix the issue, some disgruntled residents began pelting them with stones.

CoventryLive were told one of the stones hurled at a Severn Trent van bounced off and broke the window of another vehicle. Ed Ruane, Labour councillor for the Henley Ward, slammed those responsible and said they should be ashamed of their actions.

He told CoventryLive: "I want to thank Severn Trent for the speediness and professionalism with which they have responded. Those responsible for attacking Severn Trent employees should be ashamed of themselves.

"I ask them to cease this activity and educate themselves about the impact this has on the rest of the community, especially the elderly and young children in our community. This is wasting thousands of litres of water and using a resource which is at a premium as we face the next few days."

A Severn Trent spokesman said: “Unfortunately, we’ve once again been made aware of reports of fire hydrant mis-use in the Wood End area of Coventry, and we’re sorry to hear that customers may have experienced water supply issues as a result. Over the last few years our engineers have regularly been subjected to abusive and threatening behaviour when we respond, which is something we won’t tolerate.

"Their safety is our number one priority, which is why we’ve developed an incident response plan for when our teams are working in the area. Last summer we took further measures to prevent people damaging the hydrants, by working more closely with the police, engaging with the local community and fitting the hydrants with locking caps.

"Sadly, these have now been vandalised, and we will be looking into fitting new ones, as well as considering what else can be done to protect customers’ water supply in the area.”

[dutchman]

Ruane should explain why the council is spending millions to supposedly 'regenerate' the area while doing nothing to evict the minority of tenants who make life miserable for the vast majority.

Likewise in Willenhall.