UNITED Utilities has been ordered to improve its service by a water industry watchdog.

The North West's water provider received nearly double the average number of complaints per customer last year than several other water companies.

But overall the Consumer Council for Water revealed that complaints to water companies in England and Wales fell by nearly 17 per cent between 2008-09 and 2009-10.

United Utilities saw complaints drop by 43,506 to 36,556, a 16 per cent reduction.

But the consumer council said it still needed to make further improvements, in line with water boards that saw reductions of up to 40 per cent.

Dame Yve Buckland, Consumer Council for Water chairman, said: “Water customers are used to hearing about year on year rises in complaints, but we’ve been working hard to put pressure on water companies, particularly those with poor complaint numbers, to improve their performance.

"We are beginning to see progress from many of them.

“Unfortunately, there are still a few companies who are letting their customers down when it comes to service.

“Although complaints to United Utilities dropped by 16 per cent last year, the company is recovering from a period of high numbers of complaints.

“It has a lot of work to do to bring service levels more in line with the rest of the industry.”

Eighty-year-old Mary Cunliffe finally had a water leak near her house repaired by United Utilities this summer after a 14-month saga.

Mrs Cunliffe, who is battling stress-related bowel and mouth cancer, first reported ‘gallons’ of water running down her path in June 2009.

The firm dismissed the problem as ‘standing water’, but eventually took responsibility for the leak under the steps leading into her Downham Street, Blackburn home.

Daughter Gina, 49, said: “I agree with the watchdog. They never once rang us up, we had to ring them every time, and they have never apologised to us."

Gary Dixon, United Utilities customer services director, said the report showed it was making 'good progress'.

He said: “There is still a lot of work to do and I want to reassure customers that we will continue to improve our services to drive down complaints even further.”