Actvists Converge At Corporate HQ, Attempt Citizens' Arrest Of CEO And CFO Of Thames Water
Environmental campaigners have attempted citizen’s arrests of the chief executive and chief financial officer of Thames Water on suspicion of causing a causing a public nuisance. The campaigners accuse Chris Weston and Alastair Cochran of five to seven counts of the offence, which is regularly used against protesters, including illegal discharge of sewage, mismanagement of customer funds and operating unsafe infrastructure.
They say they have worked with lawyers to draw up a draft indictment supporting their allegations, which they intend to submit to prosecutors. Their action came as the Guardian revealed Thames Water increased the amount of raw sewage it was discharging from its system into England’s rivers by a record 50%, and in the week the company won approval from the court of appeal for a £3bn emergency debt bailout to avoid financial collapse.
Meanwhile, households across the UK are expecting increases in water bills of up to 35%, with Thames Water seeking a hike of 59%.
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According to their statement, a group of campaigners, all women, entered the lobby of Thames Water’s offices in Reading, Berkshire, on Tuesday morning, where they called for Weston and Cochran to come down to be served with draft indictment papers and a dossier of evidence.
Weston came down to the building’s lobby after police officers arrived. The activists had notified Thames Valley police of the action they planned to take, and requested it send officers to arrest Weston and Cochran. They did not, but the activists claimed the officers reviewed their dossier of evidence and took it away for further investigation.
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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/mar/18/green-activists-try-to-make-citizens-arrests-of-thames-water-executives