Chief finance officer of under-fire Thames Water quits £1.3m-a-year role

Campaigners outside the Royal Courts of Justice earlier this month during their appeal against the £3bn bailout loan given to the struggling water company. Photograph: Vuk Valcic/Zuma Press Wire/Rex/Shutterstock

Thames Water’s chief financial officer has quit his £1.3m-a-year job, the cash-strapped water company has announced.

Alastair Cochran, who had also recently served as interim chief executive at Thames, will leave his role within days. His departure comes at a critical time for the UK’s largest water company amid close scrutiny of its fragile finances.