BUSINESSES that were forced to close when water supplies were lost this week have spoken of their outrage after it was revealed they will not receive compensation.

After a burst pipe caused the 15 million litre Flaxlands reservoir to drain, homes and businesses across Royal Wootton Bassett were left without a supply, with Thames Water later announcing they will not compensate those who were without water for less than 48 hours.

Mercer Hairdressers, in Bassett High Street, closed for one-and-a-half days, losing approximately £800 in cancelled appointments and staff costs – not enough to qualify for compensation.

Owner Marisa Mercer said the deficit will leave her with difficulties this month.

“I think it’s absolutely disgusting this has happened. We were shut down for a day- and-a-half and lost so much business as a result. I’m furious they won’t offer anything,” she said.

“I don’t want a huge amount, but enough to cover my costs would be nice. I still have to pay my team of staff and all my bills and it makes it that much harder to go into the next month. We’re on the back foot now.”

The Churchill Inn, in Swindon Road, closed for two days and faces having to make up around £4,000 in lost takings.

Landlord Danny Smith said: “It was difficult, don’t get me wrong, but we just had to soldier on and get on with it.

“Thames Water told me they will send me a claim form to see what they can do about it and I’d hope to get all that money back but I just don’t know.”

Thousands of people across Swindon and North Wiltshire were left without running water with Thames water setting up emergency bottle drops at locations in Royal Wootton Bassett, Lydiard Millicent and Lyneham.

At the peak of the crisis, Thames Water were receiving a call a minute from affected customers.

In a statement, a Thames Water spokesperson said: “As this pipe was large, it is classified as a ‘strategic’ water main, and compensation is not awarded under our customer guarantee scheme unless homes are without water for 48 hours.

“Our guarantee scheme offers refunds to customers if they are without water for 48-hours.

“We’re not aware of any households who have been without water for that long, so in this instance the payment does not apply.”

Landlady at the Sally Pussey Inn, Norah Thomas, said she was told to apply for compensation with the water provider but now faced a 10-day wait for a form and had no guarantees the pub’s insurer would cover the losses.

She said: “Let’s put it this way, the loss we’ve had is in the thousands.

“Business has been good since but I’d appreciate an apology from Thames Water.

“As it is we haven’t heard anything and it’s what you would expect after effectively cutting off business for the week.”