Comment: Thames failure

There is little doubt that Thames Water had to address the regular flooding in Westbourne Grove, but as we describe today, shops in the area have been badly let down by the company's promises to mitigate the local impact of a London-wide upgrade to its mains. According to one restaurant, Thames Water promised to allow deliveries in, to advertise that the shops were still open and to offer compensation for loss of business - yet none of this has happened.

This is no way for a major company to treat small businesses. All of them are of course its customers - but Thames being a regulated monopoly, neither they nor anyone else can take their business elsewhere. The work is supposed to be over in time for the Notting Hill Carnival at the end of August. However, even if Thames meets this deadline, for some of the businesses affected it could be too late. Thames has promised again to pay compensation where disruption can be shown to have been its fault; it must now tell the companies affected how they can make a claim. It urgently needs to set out a proper procedure for compensation as disruption spreads to thousands of residents and businesses elsewhere in London affected by this five-year project.