Home 'destroyed' by sewage after blocked pipe

Malachy Gordon said the water was "overspilling" into his bathroom from the toilet and plug holes

A man has said his house is being “destroyed" by sewage coming up through his toilet and plug holes due to a blocked wastewater pipe.

Malachy Gordon, from Newbury, Berkshire, said he had contacted Thames Water to try and fix the issue but that he was “not getting anywhere”.

The company said it had responded to reports of an external sewer flooding on Newport Road on 10 February.

A spokesperson said: "We’ve been pumping away excess flows from the manholes, twice a day, to prevent them from overflowing."

Thames Water said it had responded to reports of an external sewer flooding on Newport Road on 10 February

Mr Gordon said other houses were affected along the road but because his house was "a little lower than everyone else" he had been particularly badly affected.

He said: “When my next-door neighbour comes home, she will start using her facilities.

"She might need the toilet, she might use her dishwasher, she might need a shower... and instead of it going where it should go, out onto the main drain, it comes into my drain."

He added his drain was "full to the brim with everyone’s sewage".

"It’s overspilling into the bathroom," Mr Gordon continued.

"The kitchen sink starts gurgling, it starts coming out, same with the shower.

“Therefore I can’t have a shower, I can’t have a bath, I can’t use the facilities… and my eight-year-old child is now afraid to use the toilet because of what’s coming up it.”

He added: “The blocked sewage pipe is destroying my home and I’m trying to contain it to just the bathrooms.”

Mr Gordon said he had been waiting for "the last week" for a network engineer to deal with the specific issues in his home.

“It’s not acceptable,” he added.

Mr Gordon said the situation was "unacceptable"

A spokesperson for Thames Water said: "Customer representatives have been in the area and a network engineer will be attending this week.

"We are sorry to residents for any distress the flooding may have caused and would like to assure them we will continue to communicate with them as our teams work to investigate flooding in the wider area.”