THAMES WATER has announced plans to axe up to a quarter of its workforce as part of a major cost-cutting drive.
The UK's biggest water firm plans to cut up to 300 jobs each year until 2010.
News of the job cuts comes after the firm failed to hit leakage targets, despite profits rising to more than £340.5million.
In an email to his staff, chief executive Jeremy Pelczer said he would keep compulsory redundancies to a minimum by trying to redeploy employees.
Thames Water collects waste water from more than 13 million people and a wide range of industries across Hertfordshire and the Thames Region.
The waste water is then delivered to 349 waste water treatment works via a 67,000km sewerage network with 2,478 pumping stations.
A Thames Water spokesman said the company had made the move to ensure it had the right resources in place to improve front line operations and meet its targets for water leakage.
She said: "As part of this process we have notified the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) of potential redundancies and have begun consultations with the relevant trades unions.
"We want to reassure our customers that tackling leakage and improving the services we provide to our customers remain our top priorities."
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