A KINGSCLERE villager has won a five-year battle with Thames Water over the problem of sewage rising through drains at his property, after the authority recently made a U-turn on the issue.
Kevin Richardson, of Swan Street, who has lived in the village for 12 years, has experienced sewage coming up through drains in his back garden for the past five years, and has been battling Thames Water over who should take responsibility for the problem.
Mr Richardson said: “The drain fills up with sewage and there’s some sort of blockage and we end up paying for it to be cleaned ourselves – it’s about £70 a time for Dyno-Rod to come out.”
Earlier this year however, the authority washed its hands of the issue, saying that unless Mr Richardson and his wife, Ruth, could prove that the drains had been installed before 1937, legally they were the responsibility of the householder.
In exasperation, Mr Richardson recently wrote to the director of customer services at Thames Water, Mike Tempest, and was delighted to receive a reply from his office stating that the sewer serving the properties of Mr Richardson and two of his neighbours was to undergo an adoption process.
This meant that it was now part of the public sewer system and therefore within Thames Water’s remit.
On behalf of Mr Tempest, Paula Sullivan of Thames Water, wrote that the process would take several weeks to finalise, but that its sewer mapping system would be updated to show that the sewer was now public.
“As of now, we have instructed our contractors to treat the sewer as public, so should any problems arise we will deal with them promptly, and free of charge.”
A jubilant Mr Richardson, an artist who owns the Old Post Office Gallery, Swan Street, said that it was a case of perseverance paying off.
“Thank you to everyone who has helped us in this unfortunate and wholly unnecessary matter,” he said.