Greenwich Council gives woman 'bucket with lid' for broken toilet

Traci Crick says she has had issues with her toilet since she moved into her house in Eltham, and Greenwich Council came to her home around nine years ago to fix a broken sewage pipe.

While it was replaced, Traci said that the toilet was still “always blocked up” but most of the time herself, her husband and daughter who she lives with could unblock it themselves.

The 56-year-old told the News Shopper: “They came out and they had a look and they said it looks like you’ve got a collapsed pipe, there’s loads of stones in one part of the drain.

Traci Crick with the Elson toilet given to her by Greenwich Council (Image: Traci Crick)

“They said we’ll leave you with an Elson, like a camping bucket, and then they said someone will be in touch they will see the report on Monday and be in touch to sort it out.

“Monday came, no one phoned, so on Tuesday I’m on the phone to chase it up as you do.

“We will get someone to call you back…okay.

“In the meantime, I called Thames Water because I was told that the pipe that had gone is Thames Water’s job, so they came out and looked at it and said it is blocked but it’s not our problem it’s the council.”

After numerous days of what she says consisted of phoning the council and being told someone would call her back, Traci spoke with a supervisor and two contractors to come out and take a look at the problem.

Traci claims that one of the contractors told  her that this was an issue for Thames Water, but she claims the other contractor told her they would do the job.

In the meantime, she told them that she was having to empty the Elson into the main drain twice per day.

Traci told the News Shopper that the contractors scooped some of the stones out of the toilet and dumped them out in some green space in front of the houses where she lives.

Elson toilet given to Traci by Greenwich Council (Image: Traci Crick)

She said that this has made the area smell badly, something only being aggravated by the warmer weather.

Ever since that day, Traci has continued to phone daily and is continuously told “someone will call you back”.

On Monday, April 29 Traci phoned again and claims she was told that the job has been cancelled on the council’s systems.

She added: “I’m an older person, getting up off of that Elson I have to be pulled up off of it because it’s too low.

“We have been told not to use the toilet because when you flush it, it’s not going down the pipe it’s just sitting under the concrete.

“But the thing is we’re pouring it down the drain, it’s still sitting there.”

Traci claims that the drain outside of her home that she has been told to dump the waste from the Elson into is also blocked, meaning that the smell of waste is lingering in the air and bringing flies to her doorway.

Now, scaffolding has been put up in the area for some building work which Traci claims is covering the manhole the council would need to access to fix the sewage problem.

She said: “The waste is just sitting there so you open your back door and all you’re getting is flies and I like to keep things tidy.

“I do my housework everyday, and I have got smelly stuff in my house because the kitchen is next to the toilet and because of the way the Elson is, you couldn’t shut the toilet door.

“So basically, you’ve lost all your dignity there - alright we’re family but you still need a bit of dignity.

“Because of the smell and being next to the kitchen we’ve had to move it up into the spare bedroom, because of the smell when you’re cooking.

“I did ask for a proper Portaloo to go in the back garden and they said ‘no we don’t do that’ so we’ve got a bucket with a lid as I call it because that’s all it is.”

Traci has said that while she did expect it to take a week or two to be fixed, she had never imagined that she would have to wait over a month for any sign of the problem being fixed.

She feels it is unfair considering that she is paying her full rent and council tax yet has no working toilet.

When her grandchildren are at her home, one of whom she is carer for, there are five people in her home using the Elson and then disposing of the waste in a nearby drain.

A spokesperson for Greenwich Council said: “We empathise with the stress caused by the delay in carrying out this repair and apologise to the tenants for the inconvenience they have experienced. 

“We are putting every effort into resolving the issue as quickly as is possible.

“There is a compensation scheme in place for tenants who experience delays to repair works, and requests are considered on a case-by-case basis."