A BROMSGROVE woman whose garden has been repeatedly flooded with sewage says she has been appalled by the service she has received from a water company.

Hannah Hardy described the latest incidents of sewage overflowing, which happened over the Christmas period, as the final straw.

The Norton resident said the first time the sewage overflowed was two years ago in the summer, which led to a foul smell she described as horrendous.

After contacting Severn Trent Water (STW) about the issue, she said she received an excellent service.

She said: “When it happened again, I foolishly expected the same amount of service.

“Instead, I have experienced an absolute nightmare ever since.”

Mrs Hardy highlighted an example of overflowing just before Christmas.

She said: “When I reported the incident, on New Years Eve, it took STW and their contractors five separate visits and 10 days to unblock the blockage and clear my garden, not to mention the 10 plus calls I had to make to ensure this was done.

“It was abominable customer service.

“Two days after clearing my garden, the manhole flooded again.”

Mrs Hardy said as a single mum with a young child and a dog, she was forced to supervise them to make sure they dont come into contact with the contaimanted waste.

“It was not only a huge inconvenience but also a serious health hazard,” she added.

Mrs Hardy said after a lengthly email exchanges and numerous calls, which often weren’t return, she was finally told last Monday that a CCTV investigation had been carried out and a pipe will need replacing.

A STW spokesman said: “Firstly, we would like to apologise to our customer for the distress this situation has caused her. Sewer flooding is not a nice experience for anybody and moving forward we will do everything we can to prevent it from happening again.

“We have visited the customer to apologise and to explain what we will be doing to resolve the problem. To allow us to carry out repairs we will need to organise a road closure and we are working with the highways authority to arrange this.

“We will make sure that our work is completed in a timely manner and we will keep the customer up-to-date with our progress.”