Furious dad blocks Thames Water van after days with no running water in High Wycombe

A furious dad blocked a Thames Water van outside his Buckinghamshire home after claiming his family were left for days without running water.

Chris Oxley took drastic action after his family, including a nine-month-old baby, couldn't wash and clean properly or even flush the toilet after the water was cut off Monday night.

His partner Sarah McCrory was even forced to to drive 20 miles to her mother's house to wash their young child.

After repeatedly calling Thames Water and "going round in circles" Chris reached boiling point and took matters into his own hands.

'The smell's not great!'

"We've been without water since 7pm on Monday and it's affecting us in a bad way - no washing machine, no dishwasher, toilets... you make the choice not to flush the toilet but it's 30C at the moment so the smell's not great!" Chris told ITV News.

"There were ten calls to the water company to try and get them to come and sort it out, most of the time being told they had fixed it or a fix was imminent - but when I spoke to an engineer they said they didn't know where the leak was and didn't have permission to dig," he added.

'All I wanted was a manager'

Chris's frustration grew when he failed repeatedly to get through to a manager via the Thames Water call centre.

So when an engineer turned up on his street Chris took both family cars and parked one in front, and one behind the water company's van.

"The result of that was him walking down the road and flicking fingers at me and swearing at me and calling the police", Chris explained.

"All I wanted was a manager - it really was that simple - but it ended up with the police here!", he added.

Chris and Sarah dismissed any suggestion their actions were extreme and they believe the problem would have dragged on if they hadn't intervened.

"The most frustrating part of this was every time we phoned up we were told a different story, and were even phoned to be told the water was fixed when it wasn't," said Sarah.

"There's a massive disconnect between what you get told by the call centre and what you get told by the engineers on the street.

"When we phoned them to say your engineer is refusing to call a manager and is swearing at us and calling the police they still told me I couldn't talk to a manager - and waited four hours for a call back," she added.

The water leak affected four other houses on the street and between they called Thames Water ten times.

Sarah said she was considering moving into her mum's home to help cope while Chris said he would keep "hassling" the water company until the pipes were fixed.

Thames Water has been approached for comment.

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