SEVERN Trent say works being carried out in Evesham are ‘absolutely necessary’ after being criticised for working during the lockdown.

Hampton resident Calvin Crossman was angry when Severn Trent cut his water supply off when they began pipe replacement work outside his home on Wednesday.

“Boris gave a speech regarding the present situation and laid down some basic guidance. Now Severn Trent are upgrading a pipeline in our street and one joining it. Today I got home to find we had no water! There was no leaflet and no warning! I spoke to a seven Trent adviser and they said it was essential work!”

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Mr Crossman said his wife and daughter who work in the caring profession were unable to wash when they came home.

He said: “I spoke with Worcestershire County Council who issued the licence for the work to be carried out and they said that they could not stop the work.”

“Surely it can be left until this virus has passed over!”

A spokesman from Severn Trent said: “We want to reassure everyone that we’re only asking our teams to do work that is absolutely necessary at the moment. It may not feel like replacing pipes is necessary, but we do need to continue with this work to stop any bursts from happening as that would have a much bigger impact on the community.”

“In this instance, the water wasn’t planned to be off, which is why there was no warning – we will always tell people if we need to switch off their supplies for a short time. We managed to get the water back on very quickly, but obviously we’d like to apologise to anyone affected.”

In Boris Johnson’s latest measures to control the spread of the coronavirus, people are restricted to travelling for essential work.

Government guidance says employers who have people in their offices or onsite should ensure that employees are able to follow Public Health England guidelines including, where possible, maintaining a two metre distance from others.