Dear All,
I'm sorry if our press release didn't make the full story about this case clear. We were just celebrating the fact that we had succeeded in making a civil claim for compensation for the loss of angling amenity of the angling club affected by the pollution. We got the club £5,000 to compensate them for not being able to fish the river while it was recovering. The Environment Agency previously brought a criminal prosecution for this offence and United Utilities was fined £35,000. They also had to pay the Agency's costs of £6,883.75 and they had to pay £25,904.50 for restocking (£3,904.50 of which went to the club).
Each case is different. Sometimes we win more in compensation than the criminal court awards as a fine. Often we make claims when there is no criminal prosecution. By supporting the ACA, our members know that we will get money back to the angling clubs affected and that we will add to the impact of the Agency's prosecutions. If the size of fines and the lack of enforcement action generally enrages you, then please join us, because it enrages us too and we're doing something about it! For more examples of cases we are working on, please visit:
http://www.a-c-a.org/caseupdates.php
Most importantly, however, I will not stand for anyone criticising the size of our in-house lawyers' balls! They have settled 23 claims this year, for hundreds of thousands of pounds, and they stand up fearlessly to aggressive farmers, multinational companies and governments on behalf of anglers. Expertise, dedication, cunning and balls they have in huge quantities. What they don't have is unlimited resources because only 7,500 anglers can spare £20 a year to support the unique work of the ACA.
All best wishes,
Mark
Mark Lloyd
Executive Director, ACA