Hi people and hello.
Please can somebody here give me some advice.
My Daughter who is single and has an Autistic Child. She had a part time job,but got made redundant. My Daughter was paying dircect debits every month to the water board,but could not keep up the payment demands. She should have contacted them,but failed to do so. She hasnt paid anything for months now and she's claiming benefits. Today my Daughter come to my home,she was shaking and very frightend. What is was it was a letter from Welsh Water board.In large red print was THEFT OF WATER. This letter went on to say that it is an offence to use a service or product without making a payment If they do not recieve full payment within 7 days the may concider a prosecution under the THEFT ACT 1968 for thft of water. If found guilty you can get up to a Maxaimum penalty of 7 years imprisonment. The letter went on to say to ring them immediatly with your Debit card and require a deposit payment befor agreeing to a payment plan. Please can anybody advise me if this type of letter is legal. Have they got the right to accuse her of theft. Ive advised my Daughter to seek adise from citizens advice,but fist what can you make of this letter as ive never ever heard of this tyoe of threat.
Many thanks
Ray

Hi Ray, the first thing you need to do is contact the water board to discuss the matter, they have probably been a bit forceful because they have not heard from your daughter in respect of non payment. Explain the situation to them about your daughter`s income from benefits and I am sure they will agree some reasonable way for your daughter to resume paying her water bill and to reduce what she owes by installments, they may even suggest a water meter put in which they can adjust to recover the debt slowly. By all means contact the citizens advice, but do not leave it. They would much rather recover the debt with a simple agreement than to drag your daughter through the courts, which costs lots of time and money.

Hi
Thanks for the reply. Yes she is willing to make reduced payments,but installing a token meter is out of the question.My Granson is Autistic and if she hasnt got cash to top up the meter disconects the water supply. They also want £150 as a deposit before any agreement takes place. Surley this letter is designed to frighten people and accusing her of theft. How can a debt be theft. How can she get convicted of a crimminal offence for not paying bills. So really the electricity gas and tel companies can do you for theft if you dont pay. I know my Daugher is also at fault,but you can blame the water board for not contacting her for nearly a year now.
Thanks
Ray

Hi Ray, any legal action will be a last resort which they will want to avoid. I suspect the water board did not contact your daughter for nearly a year was because their end of tax year audit had showed it up, yes they should have contacted long before this, but they will argue that it is not up to them to inform you that you have not paid for the service, rather they gave you all the opertunatey to catch up the debt before the end of the tax year, they nearly always have an excuse as they can not execpt fault or blame as a court could rule against them if it was their fault. The money your daughter owes is peanuts to them and so will accept some kind of repayment if you speak to them and explain your daughters situation, I can not say what they will settle for, you may have to haggle a bit, they want the money back as quickly as they can, this is why they mentioned £150 deposit, that amount they will know after talking to you is unrealistic.