High street chemist Boots has been set back in its legal bid to secure a refund on what it claims were more than 40 years of overpaid utility bills.
The firm is suing utility firm Severn Trent Water for £7.8m, claiming it had been overcharging for the removal of “trade effluent” from its Beeston, Nottingham factory since 1974.
However, in a ruling today at London’s Business & Property Court, a judge dismissed much of the case.
Severn Trent, according to today’s ruling, has been supplying water and sewerage services to the factory since 1974. Their services include the drainage of surface water and the discharge of trade effluent.
Over the period, Severn Trent charged Boots for surface water drainage either according to rateable value or the area of the property. It used a meter to record and charge for the discharge of trade effluent.
Boots alleges that, over the period, surface water, including rainwater, has been draining through the meter, which means they have been overcharged.
Severn Trent argues that it was entitled to charge this way. Boots disagrees.
“The answer to this question turns on the correct interpretation of the definition of ‘trade effluent’ under the Water Industry Act 1991, as well as the correct construction of Severn Trent’s scheme of charges,” David Toledano QC, the judge hearing the case, said in the ruling.
In his ruling the judge said that, in the period from 1996, Severn Trent was entitled to charge for what the meter recorded, even if it were a mix of waters. He awarded Severn Trent summary judgment for the claim, which means it shouldn’t be considered in a further trial.
However, he said he was unable to dismiss the claim for overpaid bills prior to 1996 due to lack of records.
The claims “may ultimately fail for lack of documentary records or other evidence”, the judge wrote. “However, I do not consider that it is possible to conclude on this application that such claims have no reason prospect of success.”
Boots UK Limited v Severn Trent Water Business & Property Courts of England and Wales (Daniel Toledano QC sitting as a deputy High Court judge) 17 January 2018
