Southern Water has been fined more than £7m after illegally dumping sewage off the Kent coast between 2019 and 2021.
The company, described by the judge as having a “record of criminality” that was “an exceptionally serious aggravating factor”, pleaded guilty to 13 offences at Medway magistrates court last April over sewage discharges at Margate and Broadstairs wastewater pumping stations between 2019 and 2021.
Nine counts related to the incidents of untreated sewage dumped off the Kent coast, while three counts were over the failure to notify authorities of the discharges as soon as practicable and within 24 hours of a warning. This is a condition of the environmental permit.
And yet no-one goes to jail, no bonuses are rescinded and no Director is held accountable in any way.
