Sewage floods 'like living in 18th Century'

A man who has had sewage coming up through his toilet and flooding his house for eight weeks has said it is like "living in the 18th Century instead of the 21st".

Malachy Gordon, who lives on Newport Road in Newbury, Berkshire, said his nine-year-old daughter was having to go to the toilet in black bags because flushing the toilet made it overflow with raw sewage from neighbouring properties.

Mr Gordon accused Thames Water of "ignoring" him, and local MP Laura Farris has written to the company to urge them to take action.

In a statement, Thames Water apologised and blamed heavy rainfall and high groundwater.

Mr Gordon said the amount of sewage was "unmanageable".

"My garden has now got excrement flowing all over it, along my driveway," he said.

"If we use the toilet it will come up all over the floors."

He said some other houses on the street were also affected, but some were not.

"I used to work for Thames Water back in the 80s and, looking at the system, there has to be a blockage somewhere," he said.

He said there was "no accountability" for the company.

"They say 'it's not major'," he said.

"Well, come and live in my house and see if its major to you."

In a letter, Ms Farris said Mr Gordon was facing a "serious internal flooding and public health situation", something she said was a "stark example" of a "lamentable" Thames Water response to flooding.

A spokesperson for the company said: "We recognise how difficult this can be for customers and we have 4 tankers at the site pumping away excess flows from the manholes twice a day... to prevent them from overflowing."

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