Shropshire Star

Water company sorry as Bridgnorth house flooded with sewage

A man in Bridgnorth whose property was filled with sewage has had an apology from Severn Trent Water.

Published

David Bingham owns a house on Hollybush Road that is currently uninhabitable, after sewage crept into it as a result of works being carried out by the water company.

He said: "There is a sewer that connects New Road and Hollybush Road, it is quite old and has been blocked before.

"It blocked again recently and Severn Trent Water went to work on it while it was still live, and they disturbed it.

"Hundreds of gallons of raw sewage were flooding down the cliff and getting into the gardens on Hollybush Road, and some of it got into my property.

"It's quite a concern health-wise."

David said the sewage on the surface had been cleared although the property was still affected.

The house's two tenants, a mother and daughter, have been staying in various Bridgnorth hotels while the house is decontaminated.

Peter Edney, Severn Trent Water spokesman, said: “We want to say how sorry we are to the customers in Hollybush Road who were affected by flooding earlier this week.

“We’ve been working in Hightown to repair a collapsed sewer and have been using tankers to take waste away from the area to keep the sewer network working for our customers in the area.

"The pipe is close to a cliff and in a tricky positon to work on and unfortunately while carrying out the repairs a house and three neighbouring gardens were affected by flooding.

“We’re really sorry that happened and we’ve had specialist teams out to get everything cleaned up and returned to normal. We’ve also worked closely with the occupants of the house that was affected to provide them with hotel accommodation and they are now in contact with our insurance company.

"We know this has been a really difficult situation for those affected and once again we’d like to say sorry.”