Leak from outside stopcock man hole!

When the small square 'man-hole' (15x15cm) in our front lawn was leaking I called Wessex Water and they came out and fixed it - dug it up and put a new one in...

Can you bail out the hole with a beaker, then turn it off? My Dad did this recently when he had a burst pipe on his property.

If the leak is from the road side of the stop cock then it is the responsibility of the water supply company. If the leak is from the house side of the stop cock then it is the responsibilty of the householder.
In your case, Miffy, you can't know until an engineer inspects/repairs it. I would get the water authority in to look at it and see what they say. IF the leak is on your side of the stop cock then I would hope that your insurance would cover it.

Oh Lord, I wouldn't bank on it being covered if it's with AA! I've just had a right to-do with them about cover for loss of items outside the home, which was supposed to be included when I changed insurance to them, but when I rang up to claim it turns out that I'm not covered for that after all... Apparently it's my fault for not reading the policy docs with a magnifying glass, despite spending nearly an hour on the phone telling them exactly what I wanted to be covered
I'm going back to the old-fashioned insurance broker that sorts all that out for you!

If it turns out that you aren't covered Miffy, the water company will often do the work either for nothing, or for a reduced rate and add it to your utility bill to spread the cost - it's in their interests to sort it out as they can't afford to lose it before it gets to the property and/or water meter

What i think i will do is telephone my insurance company tomorrow to see what is covered as it is a new policy and then dependent on them decide next course of action.
Our stop cock is in the back yard, i have been outside and our neighbours have stop cocks on the pavement by their paths outside their boundaries but ours is on our property!!

You've just reminded me to get my stop cock sorted. It's on the public pavement, and somebody kicked the lid up a few weeks ago. It's full of water.

My neighbours burst last year and was fixed by the water company (3 valleys) it was located on thier driveway - so you could be lucky

Bail it out and see where the water is leaking from, if it is leaking from the top were the spindle enters the stop tap it is a tupenny halfpenny job and you are worrying yourself to death for no good reason, call the waterboard the will probabily be glad to repair the leak and stop losing water.

I think my first call would be to the water company. They will soon tell you if it is your responsibility.

To the best of my knowledge, all water authorities signed up to a deal that makes them responsible for the first repair of any supply pipe coming from the road and entering your property (by property I don't mean your land I mean your house).

Your local water company should fix this leak. I have read a few articles recently in the press about people needlesly buying insurance specifically for their supply pipes. The insurance companies know about the agreement with the water autorities but neglect to mention it.

We regularly get letters offering us insurance against expensive repairs to supply pipes.

Thank you guys, was just worried about the bit on the severn trent website where it said i had to repair it within 7 days or face prosecution!!

in november i went through all of this, and i can tell u dont rely on anyone elses help.
our estate suffers umteen leaks every year due to shoddy wirkmanship and parts, so i took out insurance against this happening to me so when it did i thought no problem, how wrong you can be.
water board turned up after being called and found 6 leaks to various properties and slapped a 14 day fix it or we take you to court orders agaist the people with leaks.but only isolated my supply because the pther houses were tenants so legally they could not be without water.12 days later i finally found a local groundwork contractor to undertake the work for less than a thousand pounds, which was the max my insurance would allow found the contractor from the leaflet the water board left me which stated the legal requirments they had to legally stick to when i was given the 14 day notice.also found out the insurance i took out was part of the water company who took 12 days just to tell me the company asked to qoute for the repair was 8 thousand which was more than they would pay and told me to sort it myself and get back to them if i still wanted to claim.anyway the local contractors said they were well aware of this insurance company and had many dealings with them in the past and the water company and had been very succesfull in court against them.anyway repair done new pipe with 25 year warranty. water board would not repair as they claimed my supply had been repaired several times before despite me living hear 10 years and they even managed to give my contractors the wrong supply pipe info so wrong houses were originally dug up and one the supply cut so we had a spring fountain till they found the right valves to close.so to fix six leaks it took 24 days between the insurance companys water board various repair contractors tennants landlords and occupants of houses.

As someone who has worked as a subcontractor for Northern Ireland Water Service I'll tell you how it works over here, it may be different where you are but I can't see why.
The small box / manhole where your mains supply can be turned off and on at is where the responsibility for the maintenance of the pipe changes hands .Between the shut off valve and your property it is your or your landlord's responsibility to fix it . If it is the stop valve or the pipe on the mains side of the valve it's the water companies responsibility.It dosen't make any difference if the shut off valve is 50 feet from the road or on the pavement thats where the responsibility changes.Thats where they will come to to turn off your water to your property so they acept responsibility up to there and the device for turning the water off . From that point on you are responsible for the pipe entering your property.
Hope that helps.
Anyone that is being charged £1000's of pounds to fix a water leak is being ripped off- no buts or iff's, you are being ripped off.