Royal marmalade firm jamming up village taps
‘Impossible to have a bath or wash up’
THE Queen’s jam maker has been accused of hogging the water supply at its factory, leaving nearby homes high and dry.
Residents say they have almost no pressure at certain times of the day, and are unable to finish off showers and do washing.
Some have resorted to placing buckets of water on stand-by next to their toilets.
The problem has been traced to Wilkin & Sons, which has held a warrant for supplying marmalade and various jams to the royal household since 1911.
It is thought that when the factory in Essex fills its massive water tanks it cuts off the water supply to a nearby housing estate.
Homeowner Charlie Garnish said he had complained to the company last month but it had not responded.
The IT worker, 27, added: ‘I’ve been going mad about it – the taps are completely unusable. There was not enough pressure to run a shower and I was having to keep water supplies in the fridge for drinking.
‘We even had to have buckets next to the toilet. It was ridiculous. We’ve not heard anything at all from Wilkin & Sons. I’ve put in an official complaint to Anglian Water and have been in constant discussions with them.’
Another resident of the new Nine Acres estate in the village of Tiptree, Victoria Patrick, said: ‘The water pressure quite often drops to near nothing, to the point where the boiler can’t even work.
‘Having children, it makes it impossible to bath them or wash up.’
The developers of the 125-home Nine Acres estate, Crest Homes, said water supplies to other parts of Tiptree were also being affected.
The problems began last month when testing started on a new water supply to the Wilkin & Sons factory.
The water feeds boilers used in the jam-making process and tanks used to irrigate fruit grown on the site.
Anglian Water said it is working on a solution and that in the meantime Wilkin & Sons had agreed to refill its tanks outside peak hours. A spokesman said: ‘Our engineers have met with managers at the Wilkin & Sons jam factory con and have agreed a solution which allows them to take the e water they need without affecting - the water pressure in the e Nine Acres development.’
Chris Newham, joint managing - director of Wilkin & Sons, , said the firm had been frustrated - by the situation ‘as we e know all our neighbours are’.
He added: ‘We have had to o revert to our old supply until til such time as the pressure issues es with the new supply have been resolved.’