90-minute phone queue for Severn Trent

Newtown area customers calling Severn Trent over the last 24 hours have been placed on hold for up to 90 minutes, it can be revealed.

One Kerry resident contacted mynewtown to say she had to put her phone on speaker to continue with her household chores while she waited for an operator yesterday and the company has re-issued its advice not to call if frozen pipes are on the caller’s property.

A spokesperson for the company said: “Our lines have been jammed with people calling to report frozen pipes on their own property. Customers are hanging on the line for up to 90 minutes waiting to get through to us, but unfortunately we can’t help them with internal pipe work problems.

“Please, if you have frozen pipes, don’t call us – we can’t help you, and need to be able to focus our resources on attending to external pipe work problems such as bursts and loss of supply to multiple properties.”