Icy Britain: How water deliveries are affected

Water delivery in the Glasgow cold

With the wintry conditions gripping the UK, we've interviewed Ricky Gall, Eden Blantyre Service Centre Manager, to see how the delivery team are coping on the roads.

How have water and water cooler deliveries been affected?

Deliveries have been affected very badly, particularly in the north and Scotland. I'm Service Centre Manager of Eden Springs Blantyre, near Glasgow, and all the area that we cover have been affected in some way.

Have any deliveries been missed due to the adverse conditions?

Some deliveries have unfortunately been obstructed, although we are currently working through all outstanding deliveries and are updating the Customer Services call centre daily. If you have any questions or are expecting a water delivery please feel free to contact them on 0844 800 3344 and they should be able to keep you informed.

How have the drivers been coping with the conditions?

As any motorist will tell you driving in these conditions is bad enough, but delivering bottles of water in the snow has been very challenging. On 6–7 December when the weather was at its worst our last truck returned to Blantyre 21 hours after it left for its day's deliveries! We've had trucks leaving the branch at 6.00am and returning anytime from 9.00pm to midnight, and there were some of us stranded at the depot overnight. You can't fault their commitment.

So the drivers are dedicated to getting deliveries through?

We have had drivers starting as early as 4.00am to try and catch up on any failed deliveries, and we've also had some routes going out on Saturdays.

What happens to water cooler bottles in the ice cold?

We have had a some water cooler bottles freezing and bursting, however we can deal with this and it doesn't affect our customers. It certainly arrives nice and chilled!