A 104-YEAR-OLD Normandy veteran has won a five-year battle to prove he was being charged hundreds of pounds too much for water he wasn't using.

Rod Dudley, from York's Nunnery Lane area, has received a refund from Yorkshire Water after it finally admitted his water meter was faulty.

Gerald O'Hara, a friend who acted as his advocate in the long running dispute, said the firm only agreed to replace the meter - and then confirmed it was faulty - following the intervention of York Central MP Rachael Maskell.

Mr O'Hara said the company began denying complaints about excessive water charges in 2016, when an ex-gratia payment of £300 was made but with all liability denied.

He said Yorkshire Water claimed that checks on the meter consistently demonstrated it was not faulty, at which point he stepped in to act on Ron's behalf."The bills kept on rising, despite him spending six weeks in hospital in spring 2018," he said.

"One by one, the explanations for excessive usage were eliminated. With the help of the Joseph Rowntree Housing Trust, Ron's landlord, the possibility of water being used by other properties was excluded.

"Finally his bills had reached £550 pa, for an elderly man who lives frugally. Last summer, the firm announced no further tests of the meter would be made and Ron would have to pay for an independent assessment."

Mr O'Hara said he was struggling to prove the charges were excessive when he asked Ms Maskell to intervene. "The response of the company was immediate and dramatic," he said. "I had asked that the meter be changed, it was. The building was surveyed, further tests were carried out on the old meter and Ron was not charged a penny."

He said Yorkshire Water had then confirmed what was obvious, that the meter was damaged and had been charging for unused water, and it had agreed to refund excessive charges for the past five years.

He said he and Ron were happy justice had been done and the money refunded but without the MP's help, this wouldn't have happened.

Ms Maskell said Yorkshire Water had been wrong not to see there was an issue in Mr Dudley’s case.

"No-one should be treated in the way he, charging him for water he never used and causing considerable stress. I am delighted that after years of dealing with this I was able to get a quick resolve," she said.

“Like with all situations, I never give up on an issue until it is resolved. If anyone finds themselves in any situation where they believe there is an injustice, I urge them to get in touch with me, so that we can find the best resolution.

" It is hard to fight cases against these powerful companies or public bodies on your own, but when you have your MP on your side, it can really help get things sorted.”

Yorkshire Water said Mr Dudley’s water meter issue was 'quite a unique case, as we don’t often find faulty meters of this nature.'

A spokeswoman said:"Over the last five years we’ve worked closely with Mr Dudley and Mr O’Hara to run a number of thorough investigations. We know how hard it can be to receive a higher bill than you might expect, and are pleased that we could resolve the issue. Mr Dudley has been refunded for any additional charges made."

She added that higher bills than expected could be down to a number of causes – including unknown leaks or increased usage, and during the pandemic, increased hand washing and people spending lots of time in their homes meant more water had been used.

"To aid customers with reducing their water usage, there are lots of tips and some water saving packs that can be ordered from our website," she said.

"If customers are concerned about a leak, they can run a number of checks to see if they have one. If the property has a metered supply, check by turning off all taps in the house and making sure that no water is going into cisterns or storage tanks. Then read the meter. Leave the water turned off for between a quarter of an hour and an hour, then read the meter again. If the second reading is higher than the first, there may be a leak.

"Most meters also have an Automated Meter Reading (AMR) device attached to them. These devices send us a reading when we’re outside the property, meaning we don’t need to disturb the customer or enter their home. The AMR stores a reading at the end of each month and can warn us about leaks too. If a leak is identified, one of our field technicians will visit the customer to investigate the issue."