A street which saw London's worst ever sewage spill, is now overflowing with sewage again.

Thames Water was fined £250,000 in 2000 and spent more than £2m clearing up an industrial sewage spillage in Sandcliff Road, Erith, in 1998.

The spillage, which saw thousands of gallons of chemical sewage overflow into the street, 10 houses and into the River Thames, took years to clean.

Now residents are again looking out of their windows to see a river of sewage running down the street.

Paul Seymour, 48, maternity manager at Darent Valley Hospital, Dartford, lived through the previous sewage spill, and is angry residents are being made to suffer again at the hands of Thames Water.

He says for the past week, residents have had to endure the sight and smell of raw sewage outside their homes, leaking out of the same manhole as the 1998 spillage.

Mr Seymour claims this is the fourth similar incident since the clear-up from the chemical sewage was finally completed in 2004.

He said: "Last week I came home from work to find sewage flowing down the road."

He and other neighbours phoned Thames Water which sent an engineer.

Mr Seymour said: "There were cakes of excrement along the gutter and on car tyres."

Water company workers hosed down the road, but the sewage continued to overflow despite the efforts of Thames Water which sent engineers to lift manhole covers to trace the problem.

Mr Seymour says the company's lorries and engineers were there for the whole of last week, pumping out the sewage and hosing down the road.

He says he is now praying the heavy downpours do not add to the residents' problems.

He added: "Just as in 1998, no-one from Thames Water has had the courtesy to let me and the other residents know what is going on.

"It is the same treatment as last time."

Thames Water says it has surveyed the sewer line with CCTV and has identified the problem as a large blockage of fat, oil and grease, which it is now working to clear.

A spokesman said on Monday: "Thames Water is currently undertaking a major clean-up of the sewer to clear the blockage and prevent further problems."

She added: "This is expected to continue through the week."