Letter: Severn Trent and efficient working

Letter: At a time when everyone should be seeking to improve efficiency and savings, Severn Trent still has a long way to go.

On January 4, two men in a van parked outside my house and, with the engine running, sat there for three hours before driving off.

The next day the same van returned and a square hole was cut around my stop tap because the council had apparently identified it as a health and safety hazard.

I asked one of the men to explain and he agreed that the cover appeared to be exactly the same as others in the area, none of which had been listed for replacement.

They were unable to do the work the day before because "the man bringing the safety barriers had failed to turn up", resulting in an 80-mile round trip from Birmingham on each visit.

Two days later a lorry fitted with a digger arrived to finish the work off. Their part of the task was to make good the square hole cut by the original team which they did by using half a shovel full of tarmac, beaten down with the back of a spade. They then kicked the debris on to the road.

It begs the question why the first team couldn't have spared another 10 minutes to have completed the task, then taken their equipment away, saving what will presumably be a third visit at some time by a specialist team of "barrier-fetchers".

Three weeks later the two barriers, a large plastic cover and a sign are still awaiting collection.

M Williams

Wem