Moment delivery man removes water bottles from doorstep of Kent home that’s been left without supply for more than a week

A delivery man was caught placing emergency water supplies on the doorstep of a house in Kent before taking a photo and taking it away again.

The strange Ring doorbell footage was filmed outside the home of Sam Purslow, 35, from Tunbridge Wells, who has been without water for more than a week due to pressure problems at South East Water.

Tens of thousands of homes left without drinking water in Kent and Sussex water company said Storm Goretti caused pipes to burst and power outages.

Vehicle technician Sam has to drive more than an hour every day just to take a shower, and he also has to queue to buy bottled water to use around the house.

On Wednesday, his wife received a text saying they would deliver bottled water after nearly a week of supply issues, but she woke up this morning to find the delivery had never arrived.

But when the couple checked the doorbell camera, they realized it had actually been delivered and was immediately taken back by the delivery driver.

In the video, a man can be seen handing out four cases of bottled water, taking a photo of it, then taking it again and walking away a few minutes later.

The man is seen handing out four cases of bottled water and taking photos, then taking it again and walking away a few minutes later.

Sam said: ‘I went to work and my wife said: “Did you check the doorbell footage at around 1.30 this morning?”

‘I took a look and saw that they handed it over to our neighbour, took a photo of it for confirmation, then took it to us with another photo confirmation and then probably took it to others. [of the homes]. “It’s a bit shocking.”

He described the strange behavior of the third-party distribution company with which South East Water has a contract as ‘laziness’.

He added: ‘We are in a cul-de-sac and there is a footpath leading to our area, a 10 to 15 second walk with a few different gates.

‘They probably didn’t want to keep walking back and forth, so they took the shortcut and thought they could just ignore it.’

Earlier today water regulator Ofwat said it had launched an investigation into South East Water following a series of problems in the districts.

Lynn Parker, Ofwat’s senior director of enforcement, said: ‘The last six weeks have been miserable for businesses and households in Kent and Sussex due to repeated supply issues.

‘We know this is having a huge impact on all aspects of daily life and is particularly damaging to businesses as we approach the festive period.

A South East Water customer arrived at a water station in East Grinstead to buy bottled water after water cuts in parts of Kent and Sussex were caused by bad weather

Officials are distributing bottled water in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, as thousands of properties across south-east England continue to be affected by water cuts on Thursday

‘So we need to investigate and determine whether the company has breached its license terms.’

A spokesman for South East Water said: ‘We are extremely concerned about stories and videos being shared on social media about bottled water and handbag deliveries in Tunbridge Wells.

‘Due to the scale of the operation to deliver to all affected customers, we were supported by a third party company. We are investigating these allegations immediately.

‘We would like to thank our customers who shared their experiences to raise awareness.’