A Swanley mum-of-one who regularly faces “dangerous, stinky and disgusting” raw sewage flooding her garden has slammed those in her street who flush nappies, sanitary towels and lumps of fat down the toilet and the sink.
Lulu Robertson was horrified to return home from a “lovely day out” with her five-year-old daughter on Monday afternoon (April 18) to find her the garden of her Manse Way house full of poo.
The 39-year-old believes the drains become blocked because some people in the cul-de-sac, not her direct neighbours, are flushing baby wipes and sanitary towels down their toilets – as well as washing fat down their sinks.
Ms Robertson, a business development manager, said: “It’s an ongoing issue. It just blocks up and then I have a garden full of poo which is not great when you have two dogs and a small child.
“It’s dangerous, stinky, disgusting. I just don’t want that in my house.
“It’s the smell as well, you can’t have any windows open.
“I have been here just over two years and this is the third time it’s happened.
“Poo all over the garden, up the trampoline. It’s a lovely mixture of toilet paper, raw sewage and sweetcorn, always sweetcorn.
“I came home on Monday and everyone was out of their homes.
“Originally I thought my house was on fire. And then I realised it was the drains again.
“It was all pouring out of my garden, into my neighbour’s garden.
“It’s because we live at the top of the hill. It bellows up and I have got a man hole cover in my back garden.
“I do not know why, but the back-up always gets in our garden. I would like to highlight it. Tell people ‘I don’t want your s***’.”
She added of those responsible for the blockages: “It’s people who have got no common sense.
“My direct neighbours know the consequences, it’s other people in the street.
“You shouldn’t put anything down the toilet apart from normal toilet paper, and you shouldn’t put fat down the sink.
“There is a lot better way to get rid of it – because the consequences isn’t on them, it’s on us.
“I am annoyed, obviously. Both of my direct neighbours are angry because it’s affecting them.
“They had to get into my garden, climb over fences and everything. It’s just so frustrating that it keeps on happening.
“My first thought it ‘can we move the drain out of my garden?’ But obviously it’s all Victorian plumbing and it goes where it goes.
“People in the road just don’t think. It’s not coming from anywhere else, we are a cul-de-sac.
“My daughter can’t now go out in on the trampoline or play out in the garden, especially when the weather’s now nice. Obviously the dogs can’t go out.”
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A Thames Water spokesman said: “This is an example of how lives are impacted when the wrong things are put down sinks and toilets instead of in the bin.
“Sometimes people don’t realise wipes don’t break down in the sewers after they’ve been flushed away like toilet paper does.
“They stick to the insides of the pipes, combine with solidified fat and build up until the sewage can’t flow past them anymore and backs up through manholes or, in the worst cases into homes.
“These types of blockages and the problems they cause are totally avoidable and our message is clear: Bin it – don’t block it.”
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