Water rates eviction victim guilty of Wigan burglary

Photo: Jan Harwood

Middleton resident Peter Plumb outside Rochdale Town Hall with his eviction notices.

It has been revealed that water rates eviction victim Peter Plumb was found guilty over his part in a burglary in Wigan. In February this year he was sentenced to a 12 month prison term, suspended for two years, and placed under a six month curfew order.

Plumb was one of three men caught while trying to steal £82,000 worth of tools and machinery from a business in Wigan.

Responding to the revelations, the Leader of the Rochdale Labour Party, Councillor Colin Lambert, who originally informed Rochdale Online of Plumb's impending eviction from his Abbey Road home for the non-payment of water charges, said he did not know of Mr Plumb’s criminal background and had acted in good faith in trying to help him keep his home.

“We see thousands of people pass through our office every year and we do not make judgements on their background,” he said. “If we were to do a detailed background check on everyone who came through our door then people would not come to their MP for help. We deal with the issues presented to us on a case by case basis. And in Mr Plumb’s case we felt he was being treated unfairly by the Council. They were trying to pass off a water rate legacy debt that he didn’t know about as rent arrears."

Councillor Lambert hoped that the Council would not use the revelations as a means to justify the eviction of tenants for the non-payment of water rates.

He continued: "Mr Plumb is only one of many constituents who have come to our office fearful of losing their home. Quite understandably most people do not want to go public or speak to the media about issues like this. But suffice to say that Mr Plumb is not representative of other people who are facing eviction under the Council’s new policy.”

“We’ve said all along; ‘Everyone must pay their bills.’ But the Council should not be a bailiff for a private company. Council tenants are the only group of people who are at risk of losing their home due to this policy and we feel this is wrong.”

Councillor Lambert’s comments were backed up by a senior solicitor from Rochdale Law centre, who said the Council were issuing more eviction threats as a result of the new water rates policy.

“We are seeing an upsurge in the number of people who are being served with eviction notices,” explained Gill Quine. “We have to remember that there are many tenants in Rochdale who have learning disabilities, are mentally ill and often old, frail and vulnerable. And they are struggling to comply with possession orders because there’s now the added element of water charges.”

She added that the extra charges tenants were incurring were quite significant in relation to their total income. “I’m aware that some tenants in College Bank flats are charged water rates that are just short of £9 a week. That’s a big percentage of your income when you’re sick, ill, disabled or have just lost your job. In the past some of these people have been allocated hard to let properties which are larger than what they would normally qualify for. Because the water rates are based on the ratable value they’re going to be penalised.”

She also pointed out that council staff were being put under extra pressure to collect the extra money and that tenants were losing out on vital support services now that United Utilities had transferred the debt to Rochdale Council.

“People who are struggling to pay increasing water charges would previously have had access to money from the trustees from United Utilities. For example, if they paid a pound towards their debt, the trustees would match that amount. Now the council has bought the debt, this support has gone.”

Plumb was one of the burglars caught red-handed by an employee who had returned to the company premises to collect some tools on a Sunday evening. The police attended and an officer jumped into a wagon to prevent Plumb from driving it into another vehicle that was blocking their escape.

Plumb had been recruited by ringleader Anthony O'Reilly to drive the wagon. Plumb believed that the yard belonged to O'Reilly and that he wanted to take the items before they were seized by creditors after O'Reilly's own business had gone bust just a few weeks earlier.

The other offender, Kevin Talmage, told the court that Plumb was his mother's ex-boyfriend. Plumb said that he only realised it was a burglary after they arrived at the scene, but he still agreed to drive the wagon.

Plumb suffers from diabetes and suffered neurological damage during an attack in autumn last year.