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| Thames Water fined £122.7m in biggest ever penalty | Thames Water fined £122.7m in biggest ever penalty |
| (30 minutes later) | |
| Thames Water has been fined £122.7m for breaching of rules relating to its wastewater operations and dividends payments. | |
| It is the biggest ever penalty issued by the water regulator Ofwat. | |
| The regulator said the fines followed its "biggest and most complex investigation" and confirmed it would be paid by the company and its investors, not by customers. | |
| A Thames Water spokesperson said: "We take our responsibility towards the environment very seriously." | |
| The fine issued by the water industry watchdog has ordered Thames Water to pay a £104.5m penalty for breaches of rules connected to its wastewater operations. | |
| That is on top of an additional penalty of £18.2m for breaches relating to dividend payments. | |
| Thames Water is currently in "cash lock up" and no further dividend payments can be paid without approval from Ofwat. | |
| It comes as Thames continues to face heavy criticism over its performance in recent years following a series of sewage discharges and leaks. | |
| The company is also struggling under a huge £20bn debt pile, but secured an emergency £3bn in March to stave off collapse. | |
| The supplier serves about a quarter of the UK's population, mostly across London and parts of southern England, and employs 8,000 people. | |
| It had expected to run out of cash completely by mid-April before it secured a rescue loan and the government has been on standby to put Thames into special administration. | |
| David Black, the chief executive of Ofwat, said the fines were a result of a "clear-cut case where Thames Water has let down its customers and failed to protect the environment". | |
| "Our investigation has uncovered a series of failures by the company to build, maintain and operate adequate infrastructure to meet its obligations," he added. | |
| "The company also failed to come up with an acceptable redress package that would have benefited the environment, so we have imposed a significant financial penalty." |