A FAMILY of five were left high and dry after the water suppliers failed to repair a leak they have been complaining about since December.

Joe and Jane Gibbons, of Marlow Bottom Road, found their water supply had stopped at around 6pm on Monday the day a Thames Water workman was supposed to come and fix the leak.

But no one turned up and hours later the water system broke down completely.

Despite repeated phonecalls, no one came to restore running water until 12pm the next day.

The couple have three children aged between 16 and five. Mr Gibbons, 47, said: "We were lucky we had a filter jug we had filled up for drinking water, and for baths and showers we had to use neighbours and friends.

"I think the kids were just concerned that you can lose your water supply they take it for granted that you turn on the tap and there is water."

Mr Gibbons, a sales executive who works from home, said he could not believe the problem had been neglected for so long especially when water bills are going up.

He said: "Things have been getting worse, the pressure has been dropping since we reported it. People have been out a few times but nothing was repaired. It is so frustrating."

After the water failed on Monday, Mr Gibbons said he called Thames Water five times, and another four times on Tuesday before an engineer came to fix the supply.

He added: "When we reported the leak in December, they said it was non-urgent' and that it might take six weeks to repair. What I can't understand is how they are putting all these controls on people about water, when they can't fix a leak until it becomes desperate."

Hilary Bennett, a spokesman for Thames Water, said: "The bulk of the delay has been because the leak was wrongly interpreted as a customer side leak if it is on their side of the stopcock it is seen as the customer's responsibility. We can't get to everybody as quickly as we would like.

"It was actually on our side and should have been fixed more quickly. The leak was categorised as non-urgent, but over time the pressure dropped resulting in the loss of water supply.

"We are concerned about the loss of water, and we apologise very much for the delay."