Reading councillors have hit back against Thames Water saying that they need to ‘get their act together’.

This comes after hundreds of homes across Reading, Tilehurst and Pangbourne were left without water for over three days.

The water company, which provides services to homes in the South East and London, experienced problems due to more than 10 burst mains caused by cold weather and air locks.

Cllr James Moore, the Lib Dem representative for Tilehurst told the Chronicle that he was among the many experiencing the loss of water from the Saturday afternoon to Tuesday morning in some cases.

He said: “It has been a struggle for Reading residents especially those who don’t have a car or any way of collecting water. Running clean water is a pretty basic commodity so the fact that we are forced to live like this is ridiculous.

“Issues do occur and it’s disappointing when they do but Thames Water have decades of experience on how to pre-empt these difficulties and fix them in advance. The big issue in my opinion is a lack of communication.

"They didn’t let people know what was going on, they didn’t let local councillors know, they didn’t let the council know, residents were only made aware if they visited the Thames Water website and even that wasn’t updated very often.”

In a Reading Borough Council meeting last month, councillors took Thames Water representatives to task about several different issues that have occurred over the last few years.

Cllr Moore explained: “We absolutely raked them over the coals and they weren’t apologetic at all.

“It’s so frustrating for me and everyone else. Not only are they giving duff service, they are making us pay for it and there’s nothing we can do.

After the previous CEO, Sarah Bentley, quit Thames Water in June after a boardroom row, a new Chief executive was appointed in December.

Chris Weston, the former head of power supplier Aggreko, has now taken on the UK’s biggest water company as it faces scrutiny from all sides.

James added: “My message to Weston is to get his house in order and get a grip on the position of his company.

“There needs to be a national change where all water companies should be run as public benefit companies where they still make money but it goes back into the infrastructure and to the people, rather than the shareholders.

“This is something that has been backed by all liberal democrats across the UK.”

The Council Leader and the Labour Group councillor, Jason Brock has said that the latest issue is on a larger scale, and their support to, and communication with residents has been unacceptably poor.

He said: “Credit is due especially to Cllr Mark Keeping for pushing on behalf on his residents in Kentwood to get updates and a resolution. Residents understandably feel that Thames Water simply don't care about them.”