Sewage-hit resident faces 'years' without fix

Thames Water tankers have been at the property to help clear the sewage

A man who has been "sweeping sewage from his driveway daily" has been told it could take years to fix.

Malachy Gordon, who lives on Newport Road in Newbury, Berkshire, has been living with the situation for 10 weeks and said he "can't find a solution".

Mr Gordon accused Thames Water of "ignoring" him, and his MP Laura Farris has written to the company urging it to take action.

Thames Water said it would upgrade the nearby pumping station on Faraday Road between 2025 and 2030.

Mr Gordon said the drains have been left open because closing them pressurises the sewage and results in it coming "straight up through the toilet".

He previously compared it to "living in the 18th Century".

Mr Gordon said he had to sweep his driveway daily

He said: "I'd rather it goes in the garden than come into the house.

"I jet wash it out, get rid of it, bag it and carry on - welcome to the 18 hundreds."

Thames Water tankers outside his house are there to reduce the pressure on the system by sucking water out of the drains.

The company said the problem was caused by recent heavy rainfall and the large amount of groundwater that had entered the sewage system.

Mr Gordon received a letter last week from the water company promising "improvements to the nearby pumping station sometime between 2025-2030".

Mr Gordon said: "I could be dead by then. It doesn't help me right now - I'm just flabbergasted."

The problems have been ongoing for 10 weeks

For the timebeing Mr Gordon and his family will have a convoy of sewage tankers outside the house to help control the situation.

A Thames Water spokesperson said: "We are sorry to customers who continue to experience flooding on Newport Road in Newbury.

"The heavy rainfall combined with high groundwater levels have caused our local sewer system to overload resulting in heavily diluted wastewater to escape from nearby manholes.

"We recognise how difficult this can be for customers and we have four tankers at the site pumping away excess flows from the manholes twice a day since, to prevent them from overflowing."