Thames Water fined £15,515 for raw sewage leak into Sandford Brook

Thames Water fined for raw sewage leak into Sandford Brook

Thames Water has been fined for twice letting raw sewage seep into a brook in Oxfordshire.

The water company pleaded guilty to causing the sludge to enter Sandford Brook, Abingdon, last year.

The Environment Agency (EA) prosecuted after blockages had come from a manhole in February 2011 and then from a land drainage pipe a month later.

Thames Water was ordered pay a total of £15,515 at Oxford Magistrates' Court, which included a fine of £8,000.

EA environment officer Jack Knight said after the hearing: "The failure to carry out a proper identification and investigation of the cause of the initial blockage, and to carry out the appropriate remedial works at an early stage, fell well below the standards expected and caused the second incident."

A spokesman for Thames Water said: "We deeply regret both of these incidents.

"The first was caused by rags and sticks caught on a displaced rubber seal, which blocked a sewer resulting in sewage spilling into the brook, and the second incident was caused by the sewer collapsing when we tried to cut out the rubber seal.

"Since then we have replaced an 80-metre section of the pipe to significantly reduce the chances of this happening again."