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Rainfall Lands haulier with massive bill for drainage
Page 8
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By Chris Tindal A MIDLANDS-BASED haulier has been slapped with a bill for more than £6,000 — for rain water that fell on its premises.
Kingswinford's WK Edwards Transport says it can't afford to pay lawyers to fight the demands from South Staffs Water, but neither can it afford to shell out thousands of pounds for a bill that arrives out of the blue.
Ken Edwards, speaking for the family-run business, says an officer from the water company measured the premises and then one month later it demanded £6,250 on behalf of water giant Severn Trent for surface water drainage.
Edwards, 71, says: "My argument is that I can't switch the rain off. I told them to send the bill to God:" Adds Edwards: "There's no way I can take on the sales staff or Severn Trent through the lawyers'. Greg Shelton, director for commercial assessors Water Audit Services, reveals that the firm is dealing with an increasing number of companies that have been billed for hundreds of thousands of pounds for drainage.
Shelton says: "This is a familiar tale to us. These surface water charges can be significant and arc purely for the disposal of water on a company's site. But their measurements are often wrong. In the trucking world, we have had a great deal of success."
A South Staffs Water spokesman says the targeting of commercial properties has been going on for some time. He adds: "Some people gain, some people won't. Some surface water soaks away "If the water goes into drains, it's treated and charged."