EXCLUSIVE: British expats are hit with enormous water bills of up to £64,000 ... trends now

A British expat has revealed her shock after being hammered with £64,000 (€74,000) of water bills.

Gillian Hodge said she completely 'panicked' and is now suffering from extreme stress.

The retired pharmacist, who lives between Spain and Scotland with husband Tom, received two eye-watering bills from La Viñuela town hall.

'I couldn't believe it at first when I saw I owed €73,640,' Gillian, 66, said.

'I just felt raw panic. I've been overwhelmed with stress since I saw the bill last month.'

The total comprises two big demands, one for the third quarter of 2022 for €28,420 and the other for the second quarter of 2023 coming to a whopping €45,220.

Unbelievably, the two interim quarters came to just €15.48 and €14.18 respectively.

The town hall, which administers the water, claims her three-bedroom property has used 2.6 million cubic litres over the combined 180-day period - enough to fill an Olympic-size swimming pool - or 601 litres per hour.

'They told my property manager we had a leak in July, but it was fixed immediately. This leak would have had to be massive and we were not even using the home at the time.

'On top of that we are overlooking rural land which is bone dry With that much water leaking out, you would have thought our land would be flourishing and green, but it isn't.'

Not permitted to just pay part of the bill and obviously unable to pay it all, Gillian is baffled.

'I'm not refusing to pay for the water. We're just refusing to pay €70,000. We don't have the money and even if we did, it's still entirely wrong.'

Meanwhile her British neighbour, Lee Talbot, 60, has been forced to call in lawyers after being sent a bill for €43,000.

The property developer from Kent has appealed the 'crazy' bill levied on his six-bedroom home, overlooking Viñuela reservoir.

He said that the town hall lawyer suggested someone

read more from dailymail.....