11 November 2008
A woman from Bradford has been unknowingly paying her neighbour's water bill for 16 years while trying to keep her own consumption to a minimum.
Jean Shaw said that since moving into her home in 1992, her quarterly bills have been around £75.
The single mother claimed she regularly shared bath water with her children and avoided flushing the toilet in a bid to bring them down.
"For 16 years we would only do one clothes wash a week," she remarked.
"We lived as if we were in Africa. Water was like gold dust."
Ms Shaw realised something was wrong when a large family moved in next door in February and her bills shot up to £185.
It was later discovered that her water meter was connected to her neighbour's home.
She has now been offered £150 compensation from Yorkshire Water, although she claims this is an unacceptable amount and is demanding £10,000.
Yorkshire Water operates over 700 water and sewage treatment works and 120 reservoirs and also owns around 40,000 miles of water and sewerage mains.