Floods of tears: sewage overflows forces couple to move home after 50 years
Maxwell Kusi Obodum • Published 25 Feb 2012 12:00
0 Comments
A DISTRAUGHT couple are being forced out of the bungalow which has been their home for more than 50 years by the scourge of a blocked sewer.
Pensioners May and David Willis told the Chronicle this week they had finally been "pushed them over the edge" by Thames Water and are selling up because they do not know when gallons of evil smelling sludge will swamp them again.
When a blocked drain forced raw sewage up into the front and back gardens of the bungalow in Bath Road, Southcote, last month it was the second time it had happened in 14 years.
Yesterday they were packing up in preparation to move to a flat nearby and 80-year-old former cleaner Mrs Willis said: "We can't put up with it any more, we've got to go. We've had some good times here but we've been pushed over the edge and enough is enough."
The couple awoke at 7am on Thursday, January 12, to find a 12 inch deep pool of filthy water covering their garden and grabbed buckets to bail it out.
Thames Water told them they could not get anyone there for four hours, as the Chronicle reported at the time, and firefighters were forced to bring in pumps to clear the garden.
Mr Willis, a 78-year-old retired bricklayer, said he wrote to the company last November warning that he believed there was a blockage but Thames Water took no action. He has complained numerous times since a major flood in1998 and a few years later when sewage erupted for the first time.
He added: "When the water's pouring out of the manholes you need four minutes, not four hours. Thames Water have treated us terribly. We were flooded within an inch of our house this last time and we've been living on tenterhooks.
"It's upsetting moving because we've had fond memories here and I shall miss the garden, we shall be away as soon as we can."
Thames Water spokeswoman Natalie Slater said: "We are really sorry for the customers who were flooded. Sewer flooding is truly miserable and we have been doing everything we can to try and prevent this happening again. We can assure those living in the area that the tree roots have been removed and we are currently in the process of re-lining the sewer to make sure it is in the best possible condition."
Pensioner Kevin McCormack, a neighbour who lives in Honey End Lane, said: "I feel very sorry for them it must be awful to be flooded with sewage."
Southcote ward councillor and Reading Mayor Cllr Deborah Edwards who describes Thames Water as "shameful" and has written calling for a full investigation, said: "Thames Water are doing work they should have done some time ago and they had known about over the years."
This article appeared in Reading Chronicle 25 Feb 12
Return to the main index, get more from this section or browse our News archives.
