Unauthorised damage whilst installing meter?

hra_2

As a Thames Water customer with an unmetered bill for £360 - single person in flat with no outside water usage - having a water meter seemed a no-brainer. But after an eight-month consumer nightmare which is still far from over (the path outside my front door and that of 5 other households is currently partly coned off due to a dig-up for which I refused permission) the trade-off between money-saving and damage, hassle and stress seems far less clear-cut.

I applied for my meter in April and as mentioned on another thread ("Thames Water - Changing to meter"), things really went wrong in August when after a pre-installation survey and diagram clearly stating my meter would be installed in the outdoor inspection pit without mention of any further works, contractors arrived, unexpectedly intending to dig up a large area of our flats' concrete path as well. As I'm a tenant, I would have needed my landlord's consent, and as my neighbours strongly objected too, I withheld permission. I was told to expect a re-survey. I later confirmed this by phone and in writing.

Several weeks later without any warning at all, contractors simply turned up again while I happened to be at work and dug up the very same concrete. At least they tried to and quickly gave up - according to my neighbours it was too hard - another thing unaccountably not covered in the survey. Allegedly too, they said it was unnecessary. I am going by what my neighbours say because Thames Water never contacted me on the day or since, either in writing or by phone, to say what happened.

The concrete was left with an inadequate temporary patch with a hole, awaiting re-instatement. Over a month later, after raising a complaint, and after one missed appointment and one failed re-instatement attempt where contractors found it would be too complicated to re-instate then and there, I was told to expect a call from a manager to discuss and arrange an inspection. I informed my landlord, who wanted to be present. However, no such call materialised.

Instead, again without notice, two Thames Water representatives turned up at first light one morning, inspected the damage and prepared to go away again without making any attempt to contact me. I, however saw them and went out to ask - to be told that the inspection pit basically needed to be reconstructed to put things right - much more drastic than either I or my landlord expected, and we haven't even been given a date.

I of course have no objection to Thames Water putting things right (!) but the theme all along has been that they seem to have behaved as if they do not need to discuss, inform, or in any way consult with myself as a customer, even whilst putting right their own mistakes. So my question is - do water companies indeed have any special rights over and above any other workmen, builders etc. to do works without getting the owner's permission, or is the whole thing completely out of order?

Since Thames Water now have a policy of installing meters externally wherever possible, this could become an important deciding factor especially for people such as tenants and residents of blocks where there are other people to consider.

As a footnote, my meter was eventually installed internally last week. I think if I'd been accurately told the pros and cons of an internal vs. external fit with all its implications and offered the choice, a lot of fuss could have been avoided. Just a thought.