A man says he was let down by Southern Water after it took them five weeks to fix a leak outside his Deal home.

As such, water had been running down the road continuously for over a month.

Paul Youden says the fault was caused to his water meter in front of his house when a HGV - which had become lost and pulled over for directions - parked on it.

The weight of the vehicle's wheels pushed the metal lid down, and the pipe inside burst, causing water to leak out and run down the pavement and street.

Mr Youden, a journalist and novelist, made repeated calls to the water company to fix the leak, with dates for work to be carried out being cancelled twice.

The problem was eventually fixed last night (Thursday).

Mr Youden, of St Richards Road, said: "I had been feeling angry and very let down.

"We're all suppose to be doing out bit for the environment and to save water.

"It won't be long before they issue another drought warning. And my neighbours will be blaming me for all the water that has been wasted.

"It's really not on. They let me down twice and only after I called the paper did they come out."

A spokesman for Southern Water apologised for the wait in fixing the problem and said engineers have now dealt with it.

It has been a tough few months for Southern Water.

Earlier this month, Thanet council urged beach-goers not to enter the sea after an "unscreened wastewater release", with a number of leaks taking place by Southern Water as heavy rain battered the county.

It comes after the firm was slapped with a record £90 million fine in July after unleashing up to 21 billion litres of sewage into protected water between 2010 and 2015.

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