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| Ex-detectives hired to tackle water theft crime wave | Ex-detectives hired to tackle water theft crime wave |
| (about 3 hours later) | |
| England's biggest water company has hired a team of former detectives to catch thieves digging up roads and stealing water from its pipes. | England's biggest water company has hired a team of former detectives to catch thieves digging up roads and stealing water from its pipes. |
| Thames Water says unauthorised connections have "skyrocketed" from 33 in 2011 to 734 in 2017. | Thames Water says unauthorised connections have "skyrocketed" from 33 in 2011 to 734 in 2017. |
| In 2017, the regulator fined the firm £8.55m for its "unacceptable" failure to meet its leakage reduction targets. | |
| With unaccounted-for water classed as leakage, it hopes the crackdown will help reduce the 26% it loses each year. | With unaccounted-for water classed as leakage, it hopes the crackdown will help reduce the 26% it loses each year. |
| The company said reducing the amount of water lost is a "top priority" and described its new investigations team "an important step forward" to reduce leakage in end-of-year performance tables. | The company said reducing the amount of water lost is a "top priority" and described its new investigations team "an important step forward" to reduce leakage in end-of-year performance tables. |
| Headquartered in Reading, Berkshire, Thames Water serves 15 million customers and boasts its tap water quality "is amongst the best in the world". | Headquartered in Reading, Berkshire, Thames Water serves 15 million customers and boasts its tap water quality "is amongst the best in the world". |
| Now its team of investigators are patrolling the Thames Valley and London to catch the criminals helping themselves to that water for free. | Now its team of investigators are patrolling the Thames Valley and London to catch the criminals helping themselves to that water for free. |
| Leading the team is ex-detective Stuart Orchard who said: "We're not out to get people, but it's against the law to dig up the road, find our water mains and illegally connect to our network. | Leading the team is ex-detective Stuart Orchard who said: "We're not out to get people, but it's against the law to dig up the road, find our water mains and illegally connect to our network. |
| "Thousands of litres of drinking water are lost every day. Therefore, to help protect water supplies for future generations and gain a greater control of our network, it's vitally important we find and stop the people doing this." | "Thousands of litres of drinking water are lost every day. Therefore, to help protect water supplies for future generations and gain a greater control of our network, it's vitally important we find and stop the people doing this." |
| The team took cleaning firm Hydro Cleansing to court in December for illegally connecting standpipes to the network. | The team took cleaning firm Hydro Cleansing to court in December for illegally connecting standpipes to the network. |
| The company was ordered to pay fines and costs totalling almost £15,000 for 18 offences in Reading and Croydon. |