The very mention of Thames Water – as Britain battles through summer drought, and seaside resorts and wild swimming sites are infested with E. coli – provokes an apoplectic reaction.
Add to this volatile mix the revelation that finance director Steve Buck, recruited in 2025, received a £1million signing-on fee, and anger has no bounds.
Yet we shouldn’t doubt the importance to 16m Thames customers of financially savvy management.
It has been in the emergency ward since 2023 when then-chief executive Sarah Bentley abruptly stepped down as the nation’s biggest water supplier struggled against a rising tide of debt and faeces.
Both current chief executive Chris Weston and chairman and fixer Adrian Montague are engaged in a never-ending struggle to keep the enterprise afloat.
