'Bursting Yorkshire Water pipes have flooded our house twice, caused £100,000 of damage and written off our car - but they still won't replace them'

Yorkshire Water is refusing to replace repeatedly bursting water pipes which have twice flooded a couple’s property – despite the incidents causing more than £100,000 worth of damage, writing off a car and leading the house high up a valley to be officially classified as a high flood risk.

A home hundreds of feet above sea level has been officially classified a flood risk after Yorkshire Water failed to fix ageing water pipes which have twice flooded his property in six years - causing more than £100,000 worth of damage and writing off a car.

Martin and Kim Butterworth’s property in the village of Holmbridge near Holmfirth has been flooded twice by a burst Yorkshire Water main twice in recent years, with the first occasion in May 2019 and the second in August 2025.

The water company has now agreed to pay thousands of pounds for the installation of a specialist drain at the property following the intervention of The Yorkshire Post.

But Mr Butterworth said he is concerned that Yorkshire Water’s current criteria for replacing water mains do not appear to take into account property damage from previous incidents - meaning the scenario they have faced could have happened to others.

“This could be affecting a lot of other people,” he said.

Mr Butterworth, a retired chartered surveyor, said he understands Yorkshire Water paid a six-figure sum to insurers for the damage caused in the 2019 incident, with the company also eventually agreeing to pay in the region of £6,000 towards his uninsured losses.

A similar flooding incident then happened last year, which wrote off his car and has resulted in a further insurance claim.

He said: “In 2019, other properties were affected but nowhere near as badly as ours. In the other properties, it was water leaking into the basements basically.

“We’re effectively an upside down house because my wife has MS, so we live at the upper level and then we have the garage and spare accommodation down below. We have this drive that leads down from the road under the house, and that’s where the water goes.

“All the floors had to come out, all the partition walls had to come out, all the built-in furniture had to come out. It was major stuff.

“Last August, it happened again with water gushing down the drive.

“It was a virtual carbon copy of what happened in 2019, the only difference being it was early in the morning so the car was in the garage as well.

“The car was a plug-in hybrid and it was a write-off.”

Despite the incidents causing thousands of pounds worth of damage and records showing there have been a total of nine burst mains incidents in six years affecting two pipes in the locality, Mr Butterworth said he was told the pipes were not a priority for replacement.

This has been confirmed by Yorkshire Water, which said “unfortunately the section of water main outside Mr Butterworth’s home did not meet the criteria for replacement”.

Yorkshire Water has said criteria for selecting mains for replacement include factors such as “the number of bursts on the main, the age of the main and loss of supply to customers when the mains burst”.

Mr Butterworth said he was concerned that the company’s criteria for prioritising cases does not appear to include damage caused by bursts.

“There should be a difference between a leak on a country lane and something like this.”

The property has now been ceded to the Flood Re scheme, which is an option open to insurance companies when they consider a property to be a flood risk.

An underwriter at his insurance company Saga said over email that the Yorkshire Water issues are the “probable cause” of being included in the scheme given the property is otherwise classified as being at the lowest risk category for flooding.

Mr Butterworth said the only logical reason the property could be classified as a flood risk is because of the repeatedly bursting pipes.

“We are in the lowest possible flood risk category otherwise, we’re on the side of a valley well above river level. The whole of Huddersfield would be underwater if we ever got flooded in another way.

His insurance premium this year has gone up from £438 a year to £2,500 a year and Yorkshire Water has reimbursed the difference. But the company is yet to commit to offering similar reimbursements in future.

As well as being included in Flood Re, he said is also concerned about the reduction of value to his property should he need to sell it in future to pay potential care home fees for him and his wife, who has MS.

“We have no intention of moving from here but if anything ever happens to me and I can’t look after Kim, we’d have to sell the house to pay for the care home fees.

“In terms of the increased insurance premiums for being a flood risk, this is potentially affecting other people without them realising.”

After establishing the company’s position is that replacing the pipes is not a priority, he said he suggested placing an interceptor drain at the top of his drive paid for by the company and was initially advised by Yorkshire Water that it would be considered if it got quotes for the potential cost.

He said that after spending around £2,000 on architects’ fees, he got a plan produced for the work to be done for around £8,000 only to be told by Yorkshire Water that it would be against company policy to pay for a project on a customer’s land.

The couple did get the drain installed and Yorkshire Water initially told The Yorkshire Post that because this was a “private undertaking” it would not cover the cost.

However, the company’s position changed and they have now paid the installation cost.

Mr Butterworth said that the interceptor drain appears to be a “very sensible flood resilience measure” in the circumstances but said it had been a difficult process in getting Yorkshire Water to agree to pay for it given its position about not replacing the water mains.

“For many months they refused to contribute and said they “couldn’t” and only changed their mind when The Yorkshire Post got involved.”

Mr Butterworth has sent emails and videos directly to Yorkshire Water chief executive Nicola Shaw about the situation. He said he was quickly contacted by the company following his initial message in August 2025 to say his case would be treated as a priority but this has not happened. He said a further follow up email to Nicola Shaw in January did not receive a response.

A Yorkshire Water spokesperson said: “We understand flooding from a burst water main is distressing for those impacted and we work hard to support customers to rectify any issues caused, either through their own insurance, or through our processes. This also includes covering the increase to Mr Butterworth’s insurance premiums.

“We’re currently replacing 1,000km of water mains across the region by April 2030. Ahead of this process, we assessed all water mains against a set of criteria, which includes the number of bursts on the main, the age of the main and loss of supply to customers when the mains burst.

“This process outlined the key priorities for our five-year mains replacement programme and unfortunately the section of water main outside Mr Butterworth’s home did not meet the criteria for replacement in this investment period.

“We have agreed to help fund the construction of an interceptor drain to reduce the likelihood of flooding should there be future mains bursts in the area.”