If any person wilfully or by culpable negligence injures, or suffers to be injured, any water fittings belonging to a local authority who supply water under this Act, or fraudulently alters the index of any meter for measuring the water supplied by such an authority, or prevents any such meter from registering correctly the quantity of water supplied, or fraudulently abstracts or uses water of the authority, he shall, without prejudice to any other right or remedy of the authority, be liable to a fine not exceeding five pounds, and the authority may do all such work as is necessary for repairing any injury done, or for securing the proper working of the meter, and may recover the expenses reasonably incurred by them in so doing from the offender.
For the purposes of this section, if it is proved that a consumer has altered the index of a meter, it shall rest upon him to prove that he did not alter it fraudulently, and the existence of any artificial means under the control of a consumer for preventing a meter from registering correctly, or enabling him fraudulently to abstract or use water, shall be prima facie evidence that he has fraudulently prevented the meter from registering correctly or, as the case may be, has fraudulently abstracted or used water.