Southern Water fined record £2m for sewage leak on Kent beaches

Thanet council forced to close beaches for nine days due to 'catastrophic' leakage and public health concerns

Southern Water has been fined a record 2m for flooding beaches in Kent with raw sewage, leaving them closed to the public for nine days.

The Environment Agency called the event "catastrophic", while the judge at Maidstone crown court said on Monday that Southern Water's repeat offending was "wholly unacceptable". The company apologised unreservedly, as it did when fined 200,000 in 2013 for similar offences.