A COUPLE are calling for action to deal with sewage which floods their garden.

Heather and Brian Barlow are kicking up a stink after gallons of sewage containing condoms, human waste and tampons poured into their garden - for around the 40th time.

Along with their next-door neighbour, pensioner Ella Goring, the Barlows and their five children are forced out of their gardens around three times a year by sewage overflowing from the drains.

The latest incident at their home in Whitehill Road, Crayford, which saw sewage running in a stream down both gardens, began on Boxing Day.

It happened when the Barlows' children were hoping to play with their new skateboards and bicycles.

Printer Mr Barlow, 41, said: "The garden is for the children, and in the summer we hang clothes out there, but it becomes completely unusable. The smell is horrendous.

"We all had stomach bugs after one of these occasions."

He added: "Thames Water has a meeting every six months to discuss how to spend its budget, but when I asked to come along to make my case, I was told there was no point and it knew what sewage looked like.

"It cleaned the drains through and this stopped it for eight to 10 months but then it just started again. It has been happening since we moved in 17 years ago."

Mr Barlow believes the cause of the problem is a crack in the old Crayford sewer, and says the solution would be as simple as a small valve redirecting blocked sewage into another drain.

Mrs Goring, 84, said: "For years I have been trying to get it to look at the problem."

As the houses were built before 1937, the problems do not need to be paid for by the homeowners.

A clean-up operation took place following the latest flooding.

Thames Water spokesman Sarah Sharpe said: "Investigations into the sewer flooding have been reopened, and during the clean-up operation they were surveyed with CCTV cameras."