A landlady of a popular village pub has shared her worries after human waste broke free from a damaged pipe near her pub.
Alex Van Someren, who is the pub licensee at the Horse & Jockey in Tylers Green, revealed to the Free Press that the ‘foul smell’ will drive away customers just weeks after spending thousands of pounds on renovating the establishment.
The contents of the damaged pipe began to trickle its way into various properties across the village in the early hours of Tuesday, July 18.
This comes two months after the pub closed off its layby car park after a sinkhole the size of ‘four cars’ began to emerge.
READ MORE: Huge sinkhole appears in Tylers Green pub car park
The hole has not been repaired due to an ongoing dispute regarding responsibility, as whilst the layby is on land owned by the pub, the underground issues are the accountability of the local authorities.
She told the Free Press: "This is new as I believe it happened overnight.
“From the smell and the fact that the water has surged back up twice, I very much believe that the issue is a collapsed main sewage pipe.
“It’s been bubbling and some of the layby has eroded underneath from the rainwater and this water can’t get into the underground tank from the storm gully as that too is damaged.
“There are two issues – one being the sinkhole and that can’t be fixed until the tank is emptied, but due to the shift in the ground caused by erosion, I believe this has damaged the sewage pipe.
READ MORE: Human waste and sanitary towels emerge as burst pipe causes chaos in village
“I have reported it to Thames Water but we have not seen them yet.
“And we’re dealing with sewage so it’s really important that they do arrive as soon as possible.”
Speaking on the current issues which have impacted the village, she continued: “On the weekend, we get cars come up and down the road and some will park so far over that you can’t walk along the pavement.
"This is due to the layby being shut.
“I’ve seen people walk into the road to get around parked cars so there are problems.
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“The problem with the sinkhole is that the signs and the barricading don’t look inviting after we’ve just had a huge revamp.
“The other issue is that this absolutely stinks and nobody wants to sit in my garden and eat or drink.
"The smell is foul.
“The problem hasn’t been caused by Thames Water but it needs to be resolved by Thames Water as this is sewage.”
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