Southern Water fined over mismanagement and cover up

Southern Water has been hit with a record £126m fine for spills of wastewater into the environment from its sewage plants and for deliberately misreporting its performance.

Rachel Fletcher, the head of water regulator Ofwat told Today: "The company did not run their treatment works the way they are expected to and in addition they tried to cover up that poor performance."

The penalty will see customers get a rebate of at least £61 each.

Southern Water said it was "deeply sorry".