Water usage and reading the metre.

[paranoidmother]

So as a quick question does anyone know about reading a water metre?

Had an estimated bill today and its 12 times the amount I thought - turns out my mum had broke a water trough in the field and not mended it 4 months ago!!! Not happy
However gone onto Thames Water website and they have said read the black numbers (ignore the red) do the black numbers tell you how many litres you have used? Any ideas?
TIA

It will tell you the current reading. To get the amount you have used you will need the previous reading