Telecom giant ordered back

9:26am Friday 31st August 2001

CABLE and Wireless damaged the drainage system in Marlow's Pound Lane and have been ordered back to tidy up their mess.

The news will come as no surprise to residents who endured eight months of flooding after the telecom giant dug up their road.

Submerged householders have always been adamant that the company was at least in part responsible for the floods which left parts of the estate underwater from November 2000 to July 2001.

And with water levels still as high as normal winter levels residents are praying for a dry autumn.

The damage to three drains was unearthed by Buckinghamshire County Council which has just completed a drainage study of the estate to try and stop it flooding again.

The council said it will reserve final judgement on Cable and Wireless' part in the problems until the spring.

But it believes the company had nothing to do with the floods.

Council experts say that the wettest winter on record coupled with many underground springs bubbling away under the housing estate led to the troubles.

Ian Cunningham, the council's highways maintenance engineer, explained: "We have got Cable and Wireless back to repair drains that they damaged during their digging up of Pound Lane. We don't believe the high water levels have anything to do with the damaged drains."

As for a solution to the problem he added: "We are talking six figure sums. It will be quite an undertaking and there will be a lot of work."

A spokesman for Cable and Wireless said: "We are currently repairing the drains. The engineer working on the site has also told us that we are not responsible for that flooding."