Severn Trent has successfully prosecuted a company for illegal hydrant use in Warwickshire.
RCSC Ltd, of Cromwell Road in Grimsby, was found guilty of one offence of illegal hydrant use at Nuneaton Magistrates Court.
The company has now been ordered to pay a total of £3995.65, made up a £1000 fine, £2895.65 in costs and a £100 victim surcharge after being caught accessing the water network illegally in Kenilworth in August last year.
Dan Littlewood, from Severn Trent, said:
“Thanks to the public being our eyes and ears on the ground and reporting this to us, we’ve managed to prosecute yet another company for illegally taking water from our network.
“Our customers pay for their water, so companies should too. Not only are they not paying for it, they are also putting water supplies at risk of being murky or not being there at all. These companies are not trained to use our hydrants properly, which also puts people at risk in emergencies, as the fire and rescue services relies on our hydrants and if they’re broken, it could have serious consequences.”
Since the start of 2016 Severn Trent has successfully prosecuted over 50 companies and written more than 160 warning letters to firms that have been caught illegally using hydrants.
The water company has teamed up with Aquam Water Services to tackle the issue - authorised standpipes are painted bright green and feature the Severn Trent and Aquam logos.
Severn Trent has also been fitting tens of thousands of new locking caps to hydrants which can only be unlocked with special equipment. To date, more than 30,000 caps have been fitted across the network.
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