AN ELDERLY couple who have suffered raw sewage gushing into their garden on a regular basis since the 1970s are pleading for their water company to fix the problem for good.

Margaret Wood, 88, and husband Eric, 86, are plagued by sewage overflowing onto the lawn of their home in Ivy Chimneys Road, Epping, after heavy showers – with this Sunday’s rain leading to the latest bout of flooding.


Great-grandmother Mrs Wood, who has lived in the house with her husband for more than 60 years, said Thames Water had used cameras to confirm a problem within their drainage system after a previous incident in June.

She said: “Obviously nothing’s been done because within 10 minutes of heavy rain on Sunday it was blocking up our drain.

“Ever since we’ve lived here we’ve had the problem, but it seems to be happening more regularly lately. We’re just getting so fed up with it.”

Mrs Wood said retired plumber Eric, who has Alzheimer’s, attempts to clean the sewage up himself, despite being warned not to do so.

“They told us not to clear it up. He still forgets what was said and goes out there,” she said.


The couple’s daughter Liz Brades, 56, said her parents first struggled with the sewage about 35 years ago, when the ground floor of their house was swamped with waste.

She said Thames Water had cleaned up the garden in both recent cases – but had failed to take action to solve the problem permanently.

She said: “It is just getting so frustrating. Now would anybody really want their elderly parents wading through other people’s excrement to get out of their property? I don’t think so.”


The sewage overflow also affects three other neighbouring houses, including that of the Woods’ neighbour Brian Osborne, 43, who no longer allows his two children and dog to play in their garden.


He said: “We might as well be living on the 20th floor of a tower block. There is human excrement, sanitary towels, condoms.


“We’ve got to the stage where it’s a living hell, because every time we get a small bit of rain we’ve got raw sewage. It’s got worse and worse over the years."


Mr Osborne said Thames Water was ‘papering up the cracks’ by cleaning up gardens without working to prevent the flooding reoccurring.


“We’re paying our rates. They need to look in the sewers. It’s been going on for years and years.”

A Thames Water spokesperson said: "We are very sorry for the ongoing problems and are looking into an appropriate solution."

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