Home hit by 'absolutely disgusting' sewage leak

A homeowner has said she is afraid to use her bathroom or kitchen because raw sewage has been leaking on to her patio for a week.

Rachael Pickles said the issue had been affecting her and her neighbours' homes in Farnley in Leeds since 11 February.

Ms Pickles said the situation was "horrible to live with" and that she wanted Yorkshire Water to fix the problem "as soon as possible".

A Yorkshire Water spokesperson apologised for the time it had taken to attend the incident and said a colleague was due to visit Ms Pickles on Wednesday.

Ms Pickles said the sight and smell of the leak was "absolutely disgusting".

She said she had been told that the cause of the leak not linked to her house but on property where "shared pipes" were.

"Waking up in the morning, opening my curtains and seeing all of this mess - I come downstairs and try to cook meals - and this is the view I have, and it's horrible," she said.

"Every time I use taps, shower and toilets, everything seems to go straight to the patio."

"It started off as debris all over the patio, and has now extended to puddles of water all over the patio and round the side of the house as well.

"I don't want to live like this."

Ms Pickles said trying to get the problem fixed was causing additional "stress" and she had phoned Yorkshire Water "every single day for a week".

A spokesperson for Yorkshire Water said: "We will be visiting this customer today, though it has taken us longer than our usual standard to attend this incident and we apologise to the customer for this - we know this is frustrating and inconvenient.

"At the moment, our colleagues in the field are dealing with a much higher than usual workload following the continuous rainfall felt over much of the start to the year, but they are working very hard to tackle all sewer flooding incidents in as timely a manner as is possible, prioritising those that are impacting the inside of homes or businesses."

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