A WATER company that faced a Government threat of having its licence revoked only a few years ago has been named as one of the best in the country.

Just five years ago, Yorkshire Water was in crisis following a summer drought which had left thousands of people in the region without supplies and saw hosepipe bans enforced.

But the firm's remarkable turnaround has now been recognised after it was ranked second out of the 'big ten' water companies in England and Wales.

The confirmation came in the annual league tables published by the Office of Water Services (Ofwat).

Yorkshire Water's managing director Kevin Whiteman said: "The result is down to the sheer hard work, commitment, talent and enthusiasm of colleagues across the whole business and we can all be proud of what we have achieved, particularly over the last two years.

"We retain our ambition of being the best water company in the UK, but recognise in the light of ever increasing standards that we still have much to do to improve customer service even further."

In 1996, the company had been rooted to the bottom of the league table and had suffered one of the most severe public floggings in UK corporate history.

The firm's problems were perceived to be so serious that the Government had threatened to revoke its operating licence.

But Mr Whiteman said that the quality of the region's drinking water had never been better than now and that leakage from the firm's and customers' pipes had been reduced by more than a third.

The number of properties suffering from poor water pressure was also cut from more than 30,000 to just under 200.