West Midlands water company prosecutes businesses for illegal use of street hydrants
South Staffordshire Water company has successfully prosecuted two businesses for the unauthorised use of standpipes and for taking water illegally from a hydrant.
The Walsall based water firm supplies large parts of the Black Country including Sandwell and Dudley. It also covers Mid-Staffordshire, Sutton Coldfield and operates Cambridge Water company.
Leicester-based Priority Plant Ltd was found guilty of the offence which occurred in Larkspur, Northstowe on 12 February, 2025.
Priority Plant was ordered to pay a total of £5,960 in fines and costs at Cambridge Magistrates Court on January 6. It has since closed.
Another business Ilkeston-based Aggrecom Ltd was also been found guilty of the same offence in Upper Outwoods Road, Burton upon Trent, on February 28, 2025. It was ordered to pay a total of £4,860 in fines and legal costs by Derby Magistrates Court on January 2026.
South Staffs Water and Cambridge Water lead supplies officer Mark Jeffries said: “Unauthorised connections to the water network are illegal and pose a real risk to the safety and reliability of our customers’ water supply, as it can damage the hydrant water is taken from as well as our mains pipework.
“When water is taken without permission, it can affect both water quality and pressure for our customers, which is completely unacceptable. Our responsibility is to provide a safe, dependable supply of water to homes and businesses, and we take any activity that jeopardises this very seriously.
“We welcome this prosecution and hope it discourages other companies from acting irresponsibly.”
The company said businesses which require a temporary water supply can hire authorised standpipes from its offices.
Training is also provided to ensure the equipment is used correctly.
South Staffs Water serves a population of more than 1.3 million users and supplies more than 310m litres of water daily across a network to 500,000 homes and 36,000 business customers.
South Staffordshire Water merged with Cambridge in 2013.
