A road sweeper firm has been fined over £20,000 for stealing water.
JM Clark Ltd was charged and convicted of 33 offences for illegally connecting to the Thames Water water supply.
The firm had been connecting to standpipes in Oxfordshire, Berkshire and London since 2018.
The company was ordered to pay £29,000 in fines and costs for the repeat offences over the past six years.
Thames Water said they first met with JM Clark in 2018 to encourage them to comply with the rules.
It said it then prosecuted the road sweeper contractor before Reading magistrates in 2019 and 2022 and at Oxford Magistrates' Court on July 5.
The water company said following the prosecution in 2022, the contractor was given a three-month period to review its standpipe usage but during this time it committed four more offences and continued to connect to the water supply illegally.
Claire Rumens, Thames Water’s illegal connections manager, said: “Our work to find and stop illegal connections helps us to uncover hundreds of offences and save millions of litres in water and uphold our statutory obligation to protect, control and maintain our clean water network.
“As we ask our customers to use water wisely and have engineers working around the clock to find and fix leaks, we are also doing our part to stop illegal connections to our water supply. We will always look to work with individuals and companies to educate and reduce the risk of re-offending.”
JM Clark Ltd has been contacted for comment.
