Halesowen pensioner: 'I'm living a nightmare in my home'
A pensioner says she is 'living a nightmare' after returning home from hospital to find sewage in her garden – more than a year after first alerting a water company to the problem.
Sewage began seeping through into Patricia Poles' bungalow garden in Halesowen following a thunderstorm in May last year.
The 78-year-old widow called Severn Trent Water, but the company was unable to solve the problem, instead taking action to regularly empty an over-spilling inspection chamber behind her garden.
Three months later, after Mrs Poles demanded the company stop the disturbance caused by the tanker visits, the firm cleared a storage tank in Coombs Road – and the sewage went away.
However, when Mrs Poles recently returned from a three-week stay in hospital for a chest condition she found sewage had reappeared to her garden. Severn Trent Water apologised today and pledged to find a long term solution.
She said: "I came back and everyone said there was a smell in the garden, I got my son to look and he could see the sewage everywhere. Now we are back at square one and I'm living a nightmare."
Mrs Poles, who has one child, two grandchildren and two great grandchildren, said the tank was on land behind her garden which is not owned by anyone.
She bought the bungalow nine years ago after her move from Romsley following the death of her husband Clifford.
Severn Trent Water spokeswoman Sarah-Jayne O'Kane apologised for the problem saying it was due to a sewer pipe collapse at the rear of the properties at Coombs Road.
"Tankers are taking sewage away from Coombs Road to prevent anything from reaching the property in Badgers Croft.
"We will be checking that this temporary solution is still in place today and we are working as quickly as possible to design and build the permanent solution."
