A COMPANY has been ordered to pay £12,000 after being caught illegally tapping into Wantage’s water network.

Tanker firm PMG Services was caught by Thames Water using unauthorised equipment to fill its vehicles at two housing developments earlier this year, spilling gallons of drinking water in the process.

The company admitted a total of 14 offences under the Water Industry Act 1991 at Swindon Magistrates’ Court, as several of them also occurred in Swindon.

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The £8,000 fine is the largest a defendant has had to pay for illegally connecting to the network in the Thames Water region, with costs of more than £3,900 also awarded.

Thames Water investigator Stephen Johnston said: “The amount PMG has been ordered to pay should send out a powerful message that illegally connecting to our network is not acceptable.

“As we saw here, it increases our leakage figures and is not fair on those who are operating within the law by paying for licences and the correct equipment.

“This is something we take seriously and, while we will always seek to work with companies, Thames Water will not hesitate to take action when necessary.”

Companies which need to fill tankers must pay for a licence to do so and use one of Thames Water’s unique blue standpipes.

Failure to do so means any water taken cannot be measured so is classed as leakage.

It is estimated Thames Water loses thousands of litres every day as a result of illegal connections.

Thames Water had spoken with PMG staff in November after catching them to offer help and advice, but the company continued to offend.

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The Bristol-based firm pleaded guilty to 14 offences and was fined £8,004 while also being told to pay £3,912 in costs as well as a victim surcharge of £170.

Workers were caught by Thames Water on four separate occasions connecting to the network, committing 14 offences.

The occasions included on January 1 at the Letcombe Gardens Development, Station Road, Wantage and on February 6 at the Grove Meadows Development, also on Station Road.

There were another two occasions where they were caught at Tadpole Garden Village Development, Swindon, on April 18 and May 15.

The tanker company’s fine is one of a number of problems which new housing developments in Wantage and Grove have faced recently.

In January, residents raised concerns about the state of roads around Persimmon Homes' Wellington Gate development at Grove Airfield.

The developer was warned it needed to clean the roads near the development after the area around the new estate became an accident blackspot due to mud from work vehicles on the tarmac.

In April this year, Persimmon also admitted works on the Wellington Gate development were sub-standard, after residents complained that homes appeared to be falling down.

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A spokesman for Persimmon said at the time that the company had 'identified plots with sub-standard brickwork' which it then decided to rebuild.

In June, Bovis homes defended its record of building at the Letcombe Fields estate after residents compared public areas to the Chernobyl exclusion zone.

One resident of the Denchworth Road estate, Jacob Breslau said: "Generally public paths are abandoned and covered with weeds... Some areas were never completed… (The) play area has never been finished and is now covered with soil and weeds.

"It looks like a playground in Chernobyl.”

Some 5,500 new homes are due to be built in Wantage and Grove between 2011 and 2030.

Anyone who suspects water is being stolen from the network is asked to contact Thames Water.

To report water network abuse, email illegalconnections@thameswater.co.uk or call customer service on 0800 980 8800.