OT Damaged water service and a legal question.

[mark]

Last July I poked a fork into my plastic water service on the mains side of the stoptap. It leaked with an impressive fountain.

I called out Anglian Water. An inspector arrived. He summoned a crew to fix it. I pointed out that the service was too fleet at 500mm deep. We agreed it should be 750mm. After a month or so I thought that was the end of the matter.

Today, 9 months later I got a bill for £314 for 'third party damage'. Not happy.

So my questions are:

a) Does the depth in this case give me any wriggle room regarding this bill? b) Springing this bill on me 9 months after the event doesn't seem fair play, is there a time limit for submitting bills?

mark

[Calvin Sambrook]

I can't help with either of your direct questions but don't forget that you are almost certainly insured for the damage you (accidentally) do to other people's property under your home insurance. Your insurers may well be the best people to advise you on your questions as well, after all they have an interest in not paying up if they don't have to.

[Colin Wilson]

Possibly, ask them to refer to the notes from the original call to check that the incorrect depth was the primary cause.

Is the house a fairly new build ? - there might be an obligation on their behalf to check the depth on building sites, to ensure they're put in at the correct depth. Unless the ground level has been altered they might fall foul of this.

If they try fobbing you off, tell them you're going to do a subject access request under the terms of the Data Protection Act, and that you will require the original job sheets for the work as they should contain information about the depth of the main. Ask them to make notes of your call disputing liability, and for their details "in case you need to call them as a witness" if the company take you to court for non-payment.

If the water board themselves renewed an old service, they, or their contractors should be liable as they caused the problem by laying it at an insufficient depth !

ISTR that you can chase payment for almost anything for 6 years since it was last acknowledged, longer for mortgages (15 years ?)

[mark]

"Colin Wilson" wrote in message news: [e-mail]...

Thanks for this. The house is 1948, the service pipe is black plastic which I'm guessing wouldn't have been original. Did they have black plastic in

1948? Obviously it pre-dates the current blue plastic.

I can imagine bills, once submitted, can be chased for ever and a day until paid. However, my point was the long time between the 'event' and the sending of the bill.

mark

[Peter Parry]

Yes, it is 6 years.