'We've had to live with a pungent stench for weeks'

People in a Bedfordshire town say they have been trying for weeks to get an answer on when a burst sewer pipe will be fixed.

Residents in Shefford say tankers are being used day and night to pump the sewage away.

Nita Brown, who lives off Clifton Road, said "the smell and noise from the engine and the fumes" was "unbelievable".

An Anglian Water spokesperson said: "We know tankers are large and noisy, and we're sorry for any disruption they're causing while they're in in use."

They added: "To keep the sewer flowing while we get our site back up and running, our tankers are on site to take away wastewater to our nearby treatment works."

Brown said tankers had been in the area for weeks, and had originally been outside her home, blocking her drive.

She said that "half of Shefford must have smelt it as they are out on the front road and you have to walk past [the tanker] with the sewer open and them pumping it out into the tanker".

She added: "You have to cover your nose when you walk past it as it is so pungent."

Her husband, Tony, a Central Bedfordshire Council Conservative member for Shefford, said he had called Anglian Water about four weeks ago and was told a pipe had collapsed.

He said that when he asked how long the situation would last, he was told Anglian Water did not know.

"[Anglian Water] have known about it for eight or nine weeks and they should have had a plan of action to get it done," he said.

The Anglian Water spokesperson said the tankers would "continue pumping wastewater out of the network to protect homes and the environment until we've been able to get everything back to normal".

Follow Beds, Herts and Bucks news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.