A Ramsgate hair salon owner who had to shut his business for more than six months and move his family out of their home for five months due to a collapsed sewer pipe has written to the Prime Minister in his continued battle for compensation.
Marcello Marino, who has owned his salon and home in West Cliff Road for more than 30 years, said it all started with a sewerage leak in September 2022 which caused disruption to his business on the ground floor.
In September last year Marcello was told the building was not safe and the shop would have to be closed. Two weeks later Marcello, his wife, two girls and baby son had to leave their home on direction from the water company.
Southern Water said the sewer pipe section was private and therefore Marcello’s responsibility even though the water firm covered the cost of repairs. But Marcello disputed ownership of the pipe section saying Southern Water’s lining contractor confirmed the section is not a private asset but ‘a shared pipe’ that was the water company’s responsibility.
The family were eventually able to return to their flat, above the salon, in February but the business did not reopen until May 1.
In his letter to PM Keir Starmer, Marcello says: “Southern Water have persisted in their refusal to compensate me for loss of business, the full cost of alternative accommodation, or moral damages for the inconvenience and upset they have caused me and my family.
“Moreover, irrespective of the ownership of the sewage pipe in question, the fact remains that it was Southern Water who unilaterally dug up the pipe inside and outside my property on multiple occasions on the basis of their statutory powers. They did so without either seeking my permission, nor first identifying that any responsibility was mine, and thereby giving me the opportunity to carry out remedial works at an earlier stage and with reduced consequences.
“Furthermore, it is highly likely that the damage to the disputed pipe was itself caused by the repeated works carried out by the water company.”
He has asked the PM to intervene on his behalf “to achieve much needed redress and resolution of a dispute that has gone on for far too long.”
Southern Water says that although it was initially believed the pipe was public sewer network further investigation established that it belonged to the property owner.
The company says it still repaired the pipe at no cost to Marcello and covered other expenses during that period.
Marcello disputes this saying: “Southern Water informs me that the collapsed sewer pipe was within my property boundary but I have seen in the camera evidence that the collapsed pipe was under the path outside my salon. The fact that the hole was dug under the path and into the road reinforces this point.
“The pipe that was within the salon boundary was an old redundant pipe which I was told, by a Southern Water engineer, got broken during the excavation.”
A Southern Water spokesperson said: ““We appreciate the disruption felt by this customer and his family. Investigations confirmed that the sewer pipe requiring repair was the property of the homeowner. As an act of goodwill, we carried out the repair anyway and covered the necessary building works costs. The work is complete and we have kept in touch with the customer in this regard.”
Marcello says he will carry on to get “justice for the small guy in the street.”
He added: “This is the last chance before I take it to court, I will fight it to the end.”
