August was a very busy month, but when an emergency call came in just before the last weekend of the month two of our management team stepped up in extraordinary fashion.
Jim Panton explains, “With the last weekend of the month approaching everyone was looking forward to re-charging their batteries, but on Friday at 17:10 we received word from Scottish Water that a small remote distribution system on the Isle of Lewis may require support.”
Mark Batten and Neil MacDonald, Operations Manager & Supervisor were both on their way home when the call came in, Scottish Water required a small but critical rural service reservoir to be cleaned and inspected to protect supplies to hundreds of residents.
Realising that their teams had already completed a long week the pair decided to tackle the work themselves and headed straight back to the Melrose HQ.
Once the exact project details were known they created the project paperwork, loaded the necessary equipment onto a van and by 20:00 they were on route towards Ullapool.
After a very brief interim hotel stop off, and an early start they boarded the morning ferry for the 3-hour crossing to Stornoway. Not quite ‘planes, trains and automobile’ but the challenge just to get to work didn’t end there.
Due to the remote rural location the team then needed to rely on an all-terrain tracked ‘agrocat’ to transport the equipment up to the tank, their Panton McLeod white van can be seen back at the road.
The tank was inspected and cleaned using PM88 ensuring it could once again supply wholesome water to the community.
Once the tank had been cleaned and inspected the pair then had one final task, getting home.
With no ferries to Ullapool available on Saturday or Sunday, the team decided to take an alternate route home. Driving to the South of the Island they caught the evening ferry to Skye.
With a stop off on Skye the pair then made their way home during Sunday, 700mile later arriving back to work in time for a normal 08:30 Monday morning, ready to start all over again!
Jim adds, “Such dedication is fantastic, we are very fortunate to have such a strong team here at Panton McLeod.”
Harry Cook, from Scottish Water, thanked the team for their work, “The service Panton McLeod supply forms a key part of our drive to protect and improve water quality performance for our customers. Both Mark and Neil deserve considerable praise for their effort and commitment, on what was a very challenging journey and indeed situation”
For more information, contact the team on 01896 663 330 or email info@pantonmcleod.co.uk
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