‘Thames Water must give full compensation’ Food lovers shun shops to grow their own

A GOVERNMENT minister has urged Thames Water to pay out promised levels of compensation to customers who went days without water in the aftermath of the Beast From the East.

Many complained they had only been offered £30 after going more than 48 hours without water last month, instead of the promised £150, prompting a London MP to accuse the company of having a “Victorian-era system”.

Thérèse Coffey, the environment minister, said she and Michael Gove, the Environment Secretary, would address the issue directly with Thames Water next week. She told The Sunday Telegraph: “The tens of thousands of people across southern England who lost their water supply following the big freeze last month must be properly compensated. [We] will raise this issue directly to make sure they honour that commitment.”

Dr Rosena Allin-Khan, MP for Tooting, south London, last week criticised Thames Water for offering less compensation than promised to her con- stituents, thousands of whom went up to a week without water. She said: “Thames Water have inaccurate data meaning many local residents have been offered the wrong amount of compensation. Thames Water have agreed to send cheques to every household affected, their system spans back to the Victorian era so it’s likely that some of their data is out of date.”

A spokesman for Thames Water told The Telegraph it had written to every customer affected so far, and that it was making every effort to get the correct money to households. HOME-GROWN fruit and vegetables are proving increasingly popular as people try to avoid plastic wrapped supermarket food.

In a bid to exhibit the latest culinary know-how more people are also planting unusual vegetables often hard to find in British shops.

The dig for culinary victory is being fuelled by cooking programmes featuring celebrity chefs who insist homegrown produce is tastier than shop-bought ones. Raymond Blanc, the French chef and owner of Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons in Oxon which has 11 gardens providing 250 organic varieties for its restaurant, said British people are demanding “individuality and flavour”.

“There is nothing more pleasing than planting from seed and harvesting from your own plot,” he said.

A spokesman for the National Allotment Society said many councils had seen an increase in demand for allotments, with waiting lists in some London boroughs lasting decades. Tommy Banks, TV’s Great British Menu win- ner, said: “Using your own produce for home cooking will naturally taste better as it’s fresher.”

Guy Barter, the Royal Horticultural Society’s chief horticultural adviser, said: “There are a lot of firms offering more novel types of vegetables, such as different kales or Chinese leaves.”

Mark Jenner-Parson of Marshalls Seeds said he had seen an increase in plants that need to live in greenhouses, such as Italian plum tomatoes. But those with no garden are opting for windowsill pots of rocket victoria and red stemmed radish sangria.