Mum gobsmacked after getting £16k water bill and finding out it's not a mistake

23 February 2023 , 13:57

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A leak lead to Claire Fitzpatrick suffering with a huge water bill (Image: Media Wales)

A woman was left shocked after she was slapped with a £16,000 water bill and then told it wasn't a mistake.

Claire Fitzpatrick, from Bridgend, Wales, had a water leak that went undetected for months on end after she moved into the property early last year.

By summer, Claire, 47, suddenly owed Welsh Water thousands and went to check her meter. She was baffled to see that the meter was "spinning at 100 miles an hour."

The mum of two was "gobsmacked" to be subjected to a massive £15,833.11 six-monthly bill and said, "they must think I'm operating a waterpark in the back garden."

Claire said to Wales Online: "I first realised something was wrong when I was alerted by my bank about my monthly direct debit having gone up. So I rang Welsh Water and was then told my outstanding balance was £3,823.27 - I couldn't believe it.

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Claire was offered a payment plan to pay off the debt (Media Wales)

"After that, an engineer came round, said he'd been inspecting the area and believed there was a leak somewhere. I was then told that they'd had no luck locating it and that my driveway would probably have to be dug up."

The troubles some leaked eventually led to a large hole forming on the ground outside her house, but the water company was still unable to find the leak.

They still couldn't find the leak though and were given instructions in blue spray paint nearby to 'dig deeper'," Claire said.

"So again they dug and again they couldn't find anything. And they were back again earlier this week for a third attempt."

She went on: "Welsh Water has also said that, if they fail to find the leak, I'll have to pay to hire a private contractor to locate it. Until then my account has apparently been frozen until a decision is made on what the next step should be.

"There's even been talk about a payment plan. I thought, 'You must be joking - there's no way I can afford to pay back nearly £16,000.'"

A spokesperson for Dwr Cymru Welsh Water said: "We are aware of the leak at the customer’s property and identified early on that the leak was not on our pipework but instead on the internal pipework of the property.

"While the responsibility of leaks on internal pipework does lie with the customer, we have as a gesture of goodwill tried to assist on a few occasions.

They continued: "We are continuing to liaise with the customer in advising them on the steps they need to take to resolve the matter.

"We are sorry if the bill has caused alarm but we have explained to the customer that, in the event of internal leaks, we will apply an allowance to the customer’s account once the repair has been completed. We will continue to liaise with the customer on this."

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