Chinese in hot water after £11,000 utility bill

The owners of Karen Wong's Chinese Restaurant on St Leonard's Street received the demand from Business Stream for water used between the end of August and the end of November last year.

They insist there must have been a mistake as their next highest quarterly bill was just 575 and the monster demand was for the quietest three months of the year. But Business Stream insists it has checked the meter and the bill is correct.

Mrs Wong, 50, who owns the restaurant with husband Wah Keung Wong, said: "I got a big shock when I opened the letter, I nearly passed out. This is a small restaurant so how could we have used that much water? It is impossible, it doesn't make sense."

The couple immediately complained to Business Stream and a plumber was eventually sent out to check the water meter in the 50-seat restaurant around May this year, but no leakages or faults were reported.

Their daughter, Hoiying, 19, who also works in the restaurant, said: "The plumber told us that it wouldn't be possible for us to use that much water even if we had left all the taps running constantly for days on end.

"We have not changed our water consumption at all. We still prepare food the same way and business is actually down because of the credit crunch, so we are using less water."

Mr and Mrs Wong have received several letters since January this year stating that if they do not pay the bill immediately, the restaurant's water supply will be disconnected.

Miss Wong added: "My mum is on the verge of tears every time they phone. She is really stressed and can't sleep properly because of all this. We just don't know what to do.

"We have phoned and sent letters out – we have sent about four since August this year – asking Business Stream to look into it again, but they are not doing anything about it."

She added: "Last May Scottish Water did some maintenance work outside the restaurant for a week and a half.

"They were drilling holes in the ground and they sent a letter saying they would switch off our water supply during one of the days, but they never switched it off.

"I think this has something to do with our bill, but Business Stream said any work should not have increased the consumption of water."

Miss Wong said: "If we had to pay the bill, we would just close the restaurant down.

"It is a lot of money for a small business and it would be hard for us to afford it."

A spokesman for Business Stream said: "When we realised that the water consumption was higher than expected we put in a new meter and tested the old one.

"The old meter was shown to be recording accurately.

"We have worked with Karen Wong to identify ways of reducing the amount of water that the business uses and now their consumption has dropped to 300 cubic metres per quarter – a more standard level for a restaurant business.

"We know that an unexpected bill can cause problems so we have contacted Karen Wong directly to find a solution that ensures they can keep trading."