A top mid-Essex swimming club claiming an overcharge of £41,000 for the use of Witham's Bramston swimming pool is furious after being given a "derisory" £100 compensation.

The Witham Dolphins, which trained Commonwealth 50 metres champion swimmer James Gibson, says it only got one third off its fees in the late 1980s whereas other clubs operating in the Braintree area got up to two thirds discount.

The discrepancy was only noticed 18 months ago when Chelmsford borough councillor Duncan Lumley became club chairman and checked the accounts. He has been asking Braintree District Council for cash back ever since.

The all-volunteer Dolphins serves more than 70 Chelmsford, Braintree and Witham swimmers aged six to 18.

Dolphins complained in June 2003 and after no agreement with Braintree council took the grievance to the Ombudsman.

Although the Ombudsman has found there was evidence of maladministration by Braintree council he granted Mr Lumley only £100 for his time and effort in complaining. Said Mr Lumley: "I am pretty disgusted."

Chief executive of the Amateur Swimming Association David Sparkes described the award as "derisory".

Ombudsman investigator Ms Janet Aitken told Mr Lumley in a decision letter: "On the evidence we have it was maladministration for the council to have no written charging policy for the swimming clubs and not to review the charges regularly.

"However in considering the injustice to your swimming club the Ombudsman had to take account of the fact that had the council had a policy it might have been to charge your club at a higher or lower level or still at a different level compared to other pools.

"This would have been a decision for the council to make. As your swimming club had accepted the council's charges over the years and there is no evidence it consistently challenged them this suggested to him that the club was happy to pay the charges."

Mr Sparkes has called for the council to consider an ex-gratia payment or to offer reduced fees to balance out the overcharge over time.

Braintree District Council said it had no further comment to make on the Ombudsman judgement.

But a spokesman said: "The reality is that the local Braintree swimming club has been undercharged for a number of years and not the Witham club overcharged.

"We are organising the charges step by step so that the Braintree club will be paying the right fees. This came to light when the Witham club used the Braintree pool while we were making a substantial investment in Bramston pool. The two clubs exchanged notes on their charges and that is how it was discovered."

Published Thursday December 16, 2004

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