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Thanks @Razor900. All specialists so far quoted for full replacement rather than fixing. They won't fix what they think is older, lead-based pipework (although I have the feeling it is copper, house is 1970s built). How can I insist on a fix?

A little update on this: you were right, the external valve was not closing fully earlier. Thanks to all of you who pointed this out. I had to repeat the switching off/on a couple of times as a couple of plumbers have come round to do the tests and provide quotes. The third time round, without...

Many thanks @old duffer, that's very useful info. I'm tempted to walk down the road to look for puddles and streams... I've phoned them up already, they cover track and access, plus repair up to £5k. But they need evidence of a leak to get me through to claims, which I cannot provide as there...

I take you mean the external stop cock on the pavement? I was under the impression the water company would not replace any stop cock on your side of the boundary? I got a little confused here, @old duffer. They changed your neighbour's main stop valve on the pavement without testing which side...

I've tried my best to switch off the pavement stop valve and I think I managed to, as others have pointed out above. I've been reluctant to tighten it too much; it's only a plastic head as far as I could tell and things could break. I'll leave this to the water company to repeat when they come...

Thanks @terryplumb and @CBW, I was pretty sure it was fully closed, although I was being over cautious not to cause any damage. I guess I'll wait for the utility contractors end of the week to ascertain the valve/meter part. What's the most cost effective way to approach it, if any leaks are...

Thank you terryplumb, I have already reported this to the water utility; they're sending their contractors end of the week. I would have expected at least the water meter to stop recording completely when the external stopcock is off. Is this normal?

Hi everyone, I received a higher than usual water bill last week. I can now hear a hissing sound in the cold mains pipe on the ground floor of a 1970's terraced townhouse (had to switch off several appliances, like freezer and NAS/hard disks, to sense this noise). There is no history of leaks...