Chesterfield family slam water company after faeces spewed out of blocked sewer and into their home

Elissa Wilde, 41, and her husband Steve, of Old Tupton, were flooding victims in February 20, 2020 after a blocked public sewer line leaked across their driveway – and now over one year on the family has finally received compensation.

Elissa said the nightmare saw the family living in a static caravan on their drive and pay out hundreds to refurbish their property.

"We had to step through the raw sewerage to get into the house and my daughter was seven at the time", she added.

"We literally kept going out every few minutes and the sewage was increasing because as you can imagine, people were coming home from work flushing their toilets, putting their dishwasher on, putting their washing machines on which was then pushing back onto our private sewer and spewing out on our drive."

Contaminated water also leaked under their floorboards and into their cellar.

The project manager and her husband paid for a private contractor which identified the blockage under a pub car park, 60 metres away from their home.

Elissa added: "It was bad, it had gone into the shed, we had rabbits outside and we had to move the rabbits because it was running down the patio into the cages.

"They had to subsequently go to the vets to get them checked out because they were concerned they had been in contact with raw sewerage.”

The couple moved into the property in 2017 and a year later a representative from Yorkshire Water came to their home and requested access to a manhole – which Elissa and Steve were unaware of – on their property to conduct maintenance checks every three months of the sewer.

Elissa said the maintenance visits should have spotted any blockages.

She added: "We had moved out and we were actually living in a static caravan on the drive and the stench was shocking.

"I was like 'oh my god, we've been in that cellar countless times when it has been damp, how many times was that raw sewerage?

"We've walked in there with just our slippers on, we have our daughter's drinks stored in there.”

The family has been awarded £1,050 in compensation.

A Yorkshire Water spokesperson said: “We understand how distressing flooding of any kind can be for our customers and apologise for the inconvenience caused.

"The flooding in February 2020 was caused by prolonged heavy rainfall and we ensured the sewer was clear and conducted a full clean-up.”

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