ATHERTON couple Stanley and Barbara Hall were staggered when a plumber charged them nearly £300 for unblocking a drain.

Trouble began when the Halls realised the toilet was blocked at their Tyldesley Old Road home.

So around lunchtime on Friday the couple rang an emergency plumbing service number listed in the Yellow Pages.

Mrs Hall told The Journal:"My husband was told on the phone it would be £40 to unblock the toilet with a 10% discount for pensioners.

"When the plumber arrived at 1.20pm he tried unblocking the toilet, then he used rods to try to clear the blockage. Eventually he had to remove the toilet, cleared the blockage and replaced the toilet.

"I thought he was joking when mid-way through I asked how much and he replied that it wouldn't be £400.

"We have no qualms about the job he did, that was fine, but we weren't prepared for the bill - a whacking £287.88 charge (including VAT) for three and a half hours work.

"On top of that we didn't get the discount.

"I can't believe it - we could have had a new bathroom suite fitted for another £100! How can they justify labour charges like that?"

A spokesman for Lymm-based Express Maintenance Services, whose engineer carried out the work, said: "We don't charge for call out but our rate is £40 per hour or part of.

"We offer an emergency service and guarantee to be there within an hour. Customers are told this when they call us. We charge a fair rate for the service we offer."

He said the extras on top of the labour rate were for materials used.

But Mrs Hall claimed she was told by the man who carried out the work the charge was £35 per half hour, or part of, and said no materials were used.

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