Paying defendants fees in County Court

ROMESSEX32

I had a macerator need replacing as a sewage pipe was blocked. Anglian Water are refusing to pay for it even though the pipe was defective due to their fault. I want to take them to County Court but am worried that I may end up laying their costs if I lose. How do I stand on this please? Many thanks

Jenni_D

It depends on how much you're claiming from them, and the complexity of the case, as those factors will determine the "track" that any claim is assigned to. In the Small Claims track (low complexity, up to £10k I think) then costs are limited.

Presumably you can evidence the fault, the fact that it caused your macerator to fail, and the costs involved in replacing it?

ROMESSEX32

Thanks Jenni. The claim is for the replacement macerator - £820. When the AW engineer came out he said the pipe was narrow, ran uphill for a section and shouldn’t have blocked as only two properties (including ours) fed in up to the point it was blocked. It apparently has blocked 4-5 times in the last few years (we have only been here two) AW say that as there was fat/grease in the pipe OFFWAT rules mean they have no liability. Show me ANY pipe without some fat/grease in and I’ll be stunned. The Neither I nor my neighbour cook in oil (air fryer users). The plumber who called and the AW engineer said that as there was fat sewer was blocked the macerator couldn’t pump water out so this rose up in the unit causing the electrics to blow. I’m on a state pension and really couldn’t take the risk of picking up their fees and we all know they have a lot more resources to throw against this than I do. Im inclined not to do it  because of the risk but equally hate it when these big companies can just bully people like me

Alderbank

ROMESSEX32 said:

I had a macerator need replacing as a sewage pipe was blocked. 

No, that's simply not the case.

Macerator outlet pipes frequently block, it's a known issue. Macerators are designed to cope with this. If the level of stuff does not go down, the impeller fan just continues to run until the power is turned off or until the thermal switch operates. After 30 minutes or so the thermal switch resets itself.

When a macerator does fail it is either because unsuitable things have been put down the toilet (by far the most common reason for failure) or just general wear and tear, especially if the macerator has not been maintained (was yours serviced every year?) or the pipework was not properly designed such as bends at wrong angle or pipe is too narrow at some point.

A properly used and maintained macerator can last 10 years but few are properly used and maintained.

ROMESSEX32

The macerator was less that a year old and the toilet is only used by me and my wife and not for any solids or other things - if you get my drift. Both the plumber who called and the Anglian Water engineer agreed that the macerator wouldn’t have been abl to pump out as the sewer was blocked and this caused the electrics to fail - which it did as the MCB kept tripping. It was not a reputable make but the same as one that was here previously for 6 years without a problem 

ROMESSEX32

PS when I took the matter to AW and their insurers neither said what you’ve just said which I thought they would have done as an obvious defence?

Alderbank

What is their defence?

ROMESSEX32

Alderbank said:

What is their defence?

As I noted above, AW say that as there was fat/grease in the pipe OFFWAT rules mean they have no liability. Every pipe has some in it. The engineers report read “Arrived on site customer had blocked toilet and his macerator keeps blowingCheck mh 8908 this was full went down stream at frontof property 8909 this was also full this was a interceptor  very shallow jetted out to mh to clear blockage Cctv upstream to find fog in line,jetted again to remove, then cctv down stream towards main to find slight belly about 5m to 7m. Possible might need a hamster alarm in ,very shallow mh only takes 2 house. 

(MH = manhole and fog=fat/oilgrease)

I saw the manhole and cctv and whilst there was some fog it didn’t go from one side to the other. The ‘belly’ referred to above is the section whet the pipe run uphill. ‘Very shallow’ refers to how narrow the deer pipe was. The ‘hamster alarm’ detects when the manhole is filling and they’ve since fitted this. Why would they do that unless the sewer design made if highly likely there would be another blockage?

I hope this helps