A group of residents who live on Alderney Road in Slade Green have refused to pay Bexley Council after it charged them £750 to clear a blocked drain. Each of the residents has received a bill of £3.16 for clearing the drain and £25 as administration charge.
Now, the residents are arguing that they will not pay the administration charge to the council until they give them a proper explanation.
In August, the sewage began to get blocked and on the 19th of that month one of the residents arranged to clear the drain. A worker from the council came and then decided to invoke the Environmental Powers Act 1990 for clearing the drain because the sewage was dangerous to public health.
The council circulated the notice to the local residents saying that, if no action was taken by noon of the 20th of August then they would take action to clear the drainage system through a drain maintenance company.
Dee Deering, one of the affected residents said that she did not receive any notice till 11am of that day and most of them were working. She further said that they had no chance to explain that someone would be coming from their side to clear the blockage.
A spokesperson for the council said that they were not aware the residents had made some kind of arrangement to clear the blockage. They are charging the minimum and no concessions will be granted to the residents.