Man Blocks in Water Company Van During Dispute Over Pipe Leak in English Town

A man in High Wycombe, England, filmed an altercation with a water company employee who he confronted to get running water returned to his home, which he said had been left without for more than 60 hours.

In his footage Chris Oxley can be heard saying that he asked the Thames Water driver to contact his manager after being told that there was no information about when the water pipes on the road would be fixed.

Oxley is also heard saying he has a nine-month old baby. His partner told the Daily Mail that she has been forced to drive 20 miles to her mother’s home to wash their baby’s clothes, bottles, food utensils, and has been unable to bathe her child for days.

Oxley told Storyful that by August 11 his street had had no water for 60 hours; that he had seen no workers; had received no further updates; and that he and his young family had run out of provided water.

Storyful has approached Thames Water for comment.

Oxley said he “forced the situation” and blocked the driver’s van in with his own cars. Oxley alleged the driver swore and made a gesture at him before calling the police.

Oxley said police arrived on the scene and advised him he had to move his car, which he said he did in further footage.

Thames Valley Police told Storyful: “We were called to a report of a public order offence yesterday morning. We attended and spoke to a number of individuals to resolved the matter peacefully.”

The UK is set to experience extreme heat between August 11 and 14. The Met Office issued an amber extreme heat warning for southern and central England until August 14, with temperatures forecast to rise to 37°C (98.6°F).

In a statement, Thames Water said it was planning to announce a temporary use ban on hosepipe use due to a long-term forecast of dry weather, as well as further forecasted heatwaves, in southern England. Credit: Chris Oxley via Storyful

Video Transcript

- It's where we are now. And there's his car in Thames Valley is blocked in at the moment. And the reason for that is because we've had no water for 36 hours. And when he got here today to drop off more water with no idea of when the fix is going to be and no information, I ask him to call a manager. He refused so I sort of forced the situation and blocked him in. His response, up yours, fingers up and when he got blocked in to call the police.

Now, since we have a [INAUDIBLE] reaction through police [INAUDIBLE] manager, I've not sworn. I've not been rude. I've remained calm. He swore. He's been rude. Up yours. I refuse to engage in that. There's no point. I expect this won't do me any favors with the police.

But Thames Water have left us with no water and a 9-month-old baby. They've dug up here. They've dug up down there. When actually, where that black bin is, is where they finished their repairs two days ago and it's likely gone there. Maybe right, maybe wrong. Doesn't matter. The reality is we have called them 10 times now between us and our neighbors. They have told us it's fixed. They've told us the fix is 10, 15 miles away. We've solved the problem. People don't call back people don't give information. And every day we wake up with no water.

So I guess now we wait for the police. Either I get in trouble or maybe they'll actually force them to speak to us. So an obstruction to the road now, which I think is much better. So you're just legally parked one car in front of the other. I guess the police are still coming out because it's a utility company. [INAUDIBLE] it's getting stupid. I don't really know what more to do.

And the fun continues. Road's still being dug up. No one's got any water. Looks like they left some for the house down the end. The hole is getting bigger and bigger down there. As you can see, there's not actually anyone here. Down there as well, which I would have thought is unlikely to be the problem given that's downhill from here. It's wet down there, at least. This is the most water we've seen outside of a bottle in the last two and a bit days now. 60 hours and counting.