'Sewage flooded our garden three times in a year'

Mitch Syrett (left) and his father Kim Syrett (right) say they want Southern Water to fix the issue

A family have said they are "incredibly frustrated" after the garden of their West Sussex home flooded with raw sewage for the third time in 10 months.

Kim Syrett, who lives in Goddards Green, near Hurstpierpoint, told BBC Radio Sussex that thousands of litres of effluent flooded his lawn in March and November last year.

His son Mitch Syrett said it amounted to "gross negligence" by Southern Water after a sewer burst on Wednesday.

The water firm apologised and says it realises how unpleasant external sewer floods are.

'Nightmare'

"We're glad flooding inside homes has been avoided," the family said.

Kim Syrett, who lives with his wife Georgie, is "highly vulnerable" to infection due to being a recovering cancer patient, Mitch Syrett says.

The son added that his children were now unable to play in the garden.

"It's gross negligence by Southern Water who are fully aware of the issue and have failed every time to resolve and contain the issue with essentially zero compensation offered," he said.

Mitch Syrett told BBC Radio Sussex it had been "massively stressful" for his parents to "wade through sewage just to get in and out of their front door".

He called on Southern Water to fix the issue, clean up the area and make sure it was safe for the family's children to play outside.

Sewage previously also flooded the garden of the property in Goddards Green in March and November last year

Kim Syrett told the BBC he woke up Wednesday morning and found a "bubbling brown fluid" running across his lawn.

"It was a nightmare," he said.

The 67-year-old said the water had been flowing across his garden and "polluting" his pond and a local stream.

"I'm absolutely awash with foul water. The whole garden is flooded with foul water," he said.

"It's a bodge job, and they [Southern Water] have not spent any money to fix the problem."

Kim Syrett told BBC Radio Sussex the spill was more severe than on previous occasions, though the last ones smelt worse as the weather was warmer.

Southern Water has apologised to customers affected by the sewer burst

Southern Water said a large burst on a major sewer in Malthouse Lane had caused flooding to local roads and gardens.

More than 20 tankers had been deployed to manage flows in the area and prevent any internal flooding, while sandbags were mitigating pollution, the firm said.

"We're working hard to make repairs and won't stop until the fix is complete," a spokesperson said.

"We're also visiting affected customers and will be cleaning up in the area."