Compo off the Water Board

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

I don't think we had a thread about United Utilities and Lancashire's water supply. To cut a long story short (and because I can't spell cryptosporidium), a bacteria associated with faeces got into the water supply and something like 700,000 homes and businesses were told to boil their water as a precaution.

This went on for about a month in the end, and has only been remedied over the last weekend.

This morning, I got a letter from them, which looked for all the world like a flyer update about the situation, and I was about to toss it, the realised at the bottom it included a cheque - made out to me - for £55. Which is better than nothing.

I wonder how many people will, as I was about to do, chuck that letter in the bin ...

[E10 Rifle]

Compo off the Water Board

I'm amazed this story hasn't had more prominence (I only found about it through my in-laws who live in the same town as Rogin). Inevitably invites the response "if this had been in London…" Really pretty scandalous.

[caja-dglh]

Compo off the Water Board

This thread should have been titled "Eat Shit".

[Borracho]

Compo off the Water Board

This happened in Galway a few years ago too.

[Evariste Euler Gauss]

Compo off the Water Board

Is that where IKEA source their coffee from?

[jwdd27]

Compo off the Water Board

£55 for a month?

I got £20 for a 12 hour outage last year (overnight, so I was asleep for most of it anyway), but that's Yorkshire Water, who are seriously impressive nowadays when it comes to customer service.

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

Compo off the Water Board

The water wasn't cut off altogether - but the advice was there was a small risk that drinking it without boiling it could cause stomach upsets. I know an equal number of people who completely ignored this and adopted a "bring it on" attitude, or those who went completely mental and spent the entire month panic-buying bottled water from Asda (who must have raked in a fortune). We were in the former camp (but then we don't tend to drink tapwater anyway, normally just tea or in my case beer).

[Anorak Smith]

Compo off the Water Board

I got a cheque for £50, they've spelt my name wrong... what are the chances of me getting a replacement without spending £50's worth of effort/angst on the phone with them?

I'm sure there's a perfectly good reason why they couldn't credit people's accounts, but the cynic in me does wonder how many of those cheques will be cashed.

[Anorak Smith]

Compo off the Water Board

I imagine Asda couldn't fill those bottles with tap water quick enough... allegedly.

Water, water, everywhere

[Mumpo]

Compo off the Water Board

Warning, that link's contaminated.

[Patrick Thistle]

Compo off the Water Board

E10 Rifle wrote: I'm amazed this story hasn't had more prominence (I only found about it through my in-laws who live in the same town as Rogin). Inevitably invites the response "if this had been in London…" Really pretty scandalous.

I've heard about this several times on Five Live over the last few weeks. Usually to say how many people are still on 'boil your water' warnings.

[Third rate Leszno]

Compo off the Water Board

I can't have been the only one who read the title and thought it was about a Last of the Summer Wine spin-off.

[Jah Womble]

Compo off the Water Board

Indeed, I was anticipating a photo of said character in familiar bathtub-on-wheels-rolling-downhill-into-river scene, or somesuch.

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

Compo off the Water Board

If he ended up in a reservoir that's probably what caused the problem in the first place.

[Jimski]

Compo off the Water Board

I assumed until now it was some in-joke about Last of the Summer Wine. Only just realised that the true meaning is far more prosaic. Duh.

[gavc23]

Compo off the Water Board

Jimski wrote: I assumed until now it was some in-joke about Last of the Summer Wine. Only just realised that the true meaning is far more prosaic. Duh.

Same here, presumed it'd be a long awaited spin-off. Every episode ends with Compo hilariously falling in a reservoir, or on special occasions, a sewer whilst Clegg looks to the heavens and sighs.

[Mumpo]

Compo off the Water Board

Jah Womble wrote: Indeed, I was anticipating a photo of said character in familiar bathtub-on-wheels-rolling-downhill-into-river scene, or somesuch

Enduring prolonged torture at a US detention camp, surely.

[Jah Womble]

Compo off the Water Board

Think I missed that* episode. Who administered the treatment, Sid from the café**?

(*Think I missed most of them, tbh...)

(**'Cafe' clearly shouldn't have an acute accent here. Chuffin' PT.)

[Patrick Thistle]

Compo off the Water Board

After Bill Owen who played Compo died, some wag said Last of the Summer Wine went downhill almost as fast as Compo used to do in a bath tub.

I think it only happened in one episode (although there may have been various similar incidents). It's kind of come to define the whole series though.