A water company was told elderly people could die when they were suddenly left without water for five days.

Homeowners in Linton, near Maidstone, lost supplies as temperatures began hotting up with South East Water having to hand out emergency bottled water.

The firm received calls from 37 customers in the vicinity of Wheelers Lane last week.

Water briefly returned over the weekend but a resident began contacting South East Water when systems failed again at the start of this week.

An investigation into the cause is currently underway and South East Water has assured customers the network is now stable and there are no plans to make further changes.

The company set up bottled water stations for customers to collect supplies and delivered water to people signed up to their Priority Services Register, which offers extra support to those who need it in an emergency.

But Brian Tancock, of Wheelers Lane, told the company to deliver bottles to everyone affected.

He believes it did not understand the seriousness of the problem, adding: “When I first told South East Water about the issue I was telling them what to do and then they were reacting.

"They were just treating it as a technical problem, not a real one.

“I got them to go door-to-door checking people were ok. I told them people are going to die.”

Mr Tancock, who lives with his wife, seven-year-old son and 79-year-old mother, was concerned for his family as well as for elderly people nearby.

“Old people don’t want to be a fuss. They have the Blitz spirit. They will just suffer on.”

The family of four received a delivery of 24 bottles of water a day which he believed was not sufficient during the hot spell.

When washing up in the evening, they were using at least six bottles and also had to use this quota to flush the toilet.

He said: “How do you eat and drink properly if you can’t flush the toilet?

“You can’t chug water without going to the toilet all the time.”

He said a normal service was restored to homes around 6pm on Tuesday.

People across Kent were subjected to unprecedented temperatures with the Met Office confirming yesterday was the highest July day on record, with the Mercury peaking at 38.1C in Cambridge.

Jenny Rhodes, regional network manager at South East Water, said: “We are really sorry to our customers in the Linton area who have been affected by loss of water supply or low pressure.

“We know it has been difficult, especially as we’ve had hot weather and we’d like to thank everyone for their patience.

“It has been difficult to find the cause of the problem because the network is very complex.

“We will continue to monitor the situation in the area closely.”

She confirmed normal conditions had been restored.

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