The landlord of a pub near High Wycombe and a neighbouring couple are still dealing with the fall-out of a sewage spill that happened last spring – thanks to a ‘disappointing’ lack of action from Buckinghamshire Council.

Alexandra Van Someren, landlord of The Horse and Jockey on Church Road in Tylers Green, was forced to create a makeshift picnic table barricade around the pub car park after a sinkhole “the size of four cars” opened in April 2023.

Just weeks after, a burst sewage pipe caused litres of human faeces to be pumped onto Church Road and, following a quick fix by Thames Water in the early summer, another sinkhole appeared – also spewing sewage – in the garden of Patrick and Jane Frizoni across the road last October.

(Image: The Horse and Jockey)

While a Thames Water operation to fix the second leak is now in its final stages, both Alexandra and Jane think Buckinghamshire Council’s failure to fix a broken soakaway in the layby car park has indefinitely postponed an end to the saga.

It means both the pub and the couple, who are in their 70s, are respectively left without 15 parking spaces or their once-picturesque garden for the foreseeable future.

(Image: NQ)

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Jane said: “The flooding last year ruined all our garden furniture and killed off so many plants and flowers. It has also become a Thames Water construction site, and we couldn’t go into it or let our grandchildren play in it for the whole summer.

“There’s been no word on compensation for everything we’ve lost, at least not until the work is finished, and we have no idea when that will be.

“The council hasn’t been in touch at all since October, which is very disappointing. It’s a ridiculous situation and it just gets worse each time it rains.”

(Image: NQ)

Alexandra also said the lack of a functional soakaway on Church Road was a danger to drivers during such periods of bad weather as seen earlier this week – with cars hitting “around one foot and 18 inches” of water in a dip near The Horse and Jockey at high speed and customers parking up and down the road in lieu of designated bays.

“It’s a wonder there hasn’t been an accident already and there's been a real impact on our business too. People phone up and ask if we’re open because of all the workmen and fencing around us and some have stopped coming because there’s nowhere to park.

(Image: Patrick Frizoni)

“After the second sinkhole opened last year, I was told it would all be finished by Christmas and I joked ‘this one or the next’? It doesn’t seem very funny anymore.”

Buckinghamshire Council has been contacted for comment.