A water utility company has been fined a record £1m for polluting a canal in Hertfordshire.
The financial penalty imposed against Thames Water Utilities is the highest yet, and is part of a broader trend towards high fines as a result of new sentencing guidelines in July 2014.
St Albans Crown Court fined Thames Water last week for discharging polluted water from a sewage treatment works into the Grand Union Canal between July 2012 and April 2013. Thames Water pleaded guilty to two offences under the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2010. Under the regulations, large companies with a turnover of more than £50m can expect a fine of between £7,000 and £3m.
Thames Water fully co-operated with the Environment Agency and has invested £30,000 in improved machinery to avoid a repetition of the offence.
Judge Bright QC, in his sentencing comments, reportedly warned that “the time has now come for the courts to make clear that very large organisations really must bring about the reforms and improvements for which they say they are striving”. Those who did not, he said, could expect to attract sentences “sufficiently severe to have a significant impact on their finances”.
Paul Sheridan, partner at CMS Cameron McKenna, says: “There is a discernible trend towards higher fines for environment offences. There appears to be an underlying principle that only by focusing on increasing the financial consequences of offending will due note be taken by senior directors, and notably the CEO and finance director.”
