A street cleaning company has been fined £52,000 for illegally connecting to the water supply.
Over five years, Go Plant Ltd was found to have repeateded connected unauthorised standpipes to hydrants.
And despite being prosecuted several times – and pleas by Thames Water bosses – the company continued the practice
In a statement, a spokesperson from Thames Water said: “We met with the company twice, in 2022 and 2023, to encourage them to comply with the rules, but they continued to connect to the water supply network illegally.
“Go Plant was prosecuted at Swindon Magistrates court on April 12, and Reading Magistrates court on May 3, and have now accumulated fines and costs of £52,000.
“This comes five years after their first prosecution at Reading Magistrates Court on 21 February 2019.”
According to Thames Water, since 2019, Go Plant has been charged with 40 offences for illegally connecting to the water supply.
Some of the £52,000 will be paid back to Thames Water, which the utility company says will only cover its investigation costs and legal fees.
The average standpipe costs £1,500 to hire for a year. However, the maximum fine that courts can impose for an illegal connection is £1,000 – and this can be reduced by one third for an early guilty plea.
Go Plant was recently taken over by another street cleaning company, Sweeptech after it went into administration.
The new owners did not respond to a request for comment.
