Pensioner couple threatened with £50k fine after waste pipe pollutes stream for 32 years
SWNS Pensioner couple threatened with £50k fine after waste pipe pollutes stream for 32 years
Retired BT marketing manager Brian Holland-Jones, 79, was mortified when two Thames Water inspectors turned up on his doorstep to say they had identified his home as the source of a sewage leak. Mr Holland-Jones was left exasperated after trying to work out how he had been accidentally polluting a picturesque stream. He eventually remembered that during a renovation of his east London home in 1985, builders moved a waste water pipe, and it turns out they had not connected the sewage pipe properly. Instead of waste water being drained into the sewer, it had been flowing into a surface water drain outside his home - and directly into a babbling brook. He was given just 21 days to fix the problem and was told that failure to do so could see him being fined as much as £50,000 or face prison.
We were due to go on holiday to Gran Canaria but the stress was unbelievable Brian Holland-Jones
The grandfather said: ''I had two gentlemen turn up at my door one day and tell us that our poo had been polluting the nearby river, what do you say to that? ''For 32 years our poo, washing waste, all of it had been going in Paine's Brook because a sewage pipe wasn't properly connected. "I mean you go to the loo and you imagine it goes to the correct place, for years our leavings was pouring out were it shouldn't.'' Mr Holland-Jones, a dad-of-three and grandfather to six, added: ''We had a kitchen extension in 1985 and that meant the exit pipe for the loo upstairs had to be relocated. ''It was moved and it was not reconnected properly, that has meant waste has been going into the surface water drain ever since.
SWNS He was given just 21 days to fix the problem
''The inspectors demonstrated the problem to me by opening a surface water drain in next door's garden and flushing coloured crystals in my loo, sure enough the coloured water whizzed past. ''They were perfectly nice and said we needed to sort it out as soon as possible, but then a letter arrived a few days later which said that we needed to get it sorted in 21 days. ''There was a website link and on there it spelled out that we could face a £50,000 or prison if we didn't comply. ''I mean we're both retired, we were due to go on holiday to Gran Canaria but the stress was unbelievable. ''I wrote to my MP and the council and eventually I was offered a meeting with the council, that was useless.
SWNS The stream near Brian and Velda Jones' home in Romford
"They approved the plans in the eighties - what's the point of their planning department? ''In the end I managed to get a friend round who had the idea of digging the drain up from the neighbours garden, otherwise we would have had to have gone through my kitchen floor and that would of been thousands.'' Mr Holland-Jones, who lives at his Romford home with wife Velda, said he was still waiting on Thames Water to give the work the sign off. He said: ''They are due to come round next Wednesday, they are going to flush the crystals again. "I just hope it is all okay, we can't be doing with this.''
SWNS The toilet in the home of Brian Jones
His home is a modest 1940s terraced council built house and lies roughly 200 metres from Paine's Stream - which has been polluted by his toilet waste for the last 32 years. The 3ft wide stream lies behind thorn bushes and tress roughly 70 metres from a children's play park. A Thames Water spokesman denied that there was any threat of imprisonment. They added: ''No one wants foul water from homes emptying directly into their local river, so it's great to hear Mr Holland-Jones has taken such swift action.
SWNS He was told that he could be fined as much as £50k or face prison