Man’s home flooded with waste after loo malfunction
A MAN had to share his home with his neighbour’s human waste after his flat became flooded with sewage and the council took more than a week to finally clean it up.
Rob Escott was horrified when he walked into his council-owned flat in Llanishen, Cardiff, on June 6 and found the majority of the property flooded with a 2in-deep pool of raw sewage.
The flood was caused by a blocked outside pipe, which led to all of Rob’s neighbours’ waste being pumped into his flat via his toilet.
However, while the blockage was cleared by a plumber just a few hours later, it took far longer for the mess to be fully cleaned up, leaving the 47-year-old “living in a nightmare” with his flat still covered in faeces and toilet paper.
Despite endless attempts to get teams from Cardiff council out to his flat to clean up the mess as soon as possible, Rob claims it was nearly 48 hours after the initial incident that a cleaning team arrived at the property.
Even then, he claims the team was unprepared for the job, initially bringing just a single bottle of bleach with them to deep-clean the flat.
Rob claimed that the contracted cleaning team then downed tools after working at the flat for two days and said they would not resume work until the council conducted an inspection of the property.
This meant that part of his flat remained contaminated with human waste until the job was finally completed on June 14, more than a week after the flooding occurred, with Rob forced to sleep on his sofa during that time despite being in significant discomfort after breaking his neck and back in an accident.
Incredibly, this is not the first time that his flat has been contaminated with his neighbour’s sewage, with the same issue occurring just a few years ago.
However, while Rob says that the council were proactive in solving the problem the first time around, their actions in the last week have been “totally unacceptable”, as he claims he was offered a place in a homeless shelter while the mess was cleaned up, rather than alternative council-owned accommodation.
Rob had discovered the horrific flooding after returning home, with his mum, from dropping his sick dog off at the vets on Monday afternoon.
“I was already feeling down when we got back to the flat, and my mother went in first and she immediately said, ‘What the hell is that smell?’ I looked on the floor and there was two inches deep of sewage water all over my flat. “It absolutely stank and there was faeces and toilet paper everywhere. I realised quite quickly that the sewage had come in through the toilet. Because of the blockage, every time my neighbours flushed their toilet, it would hit it and then come up through the pipe and out into my bathroom – mine is the only one that is flooded.
“When I saw how far it had spread,
I just thought, ‘Oh my God’. It had gone into cupboards, on to the carpet in my bedroom and living room and under the tiles in the bathroom. It was everywhere.”
The widespread flooding has left much of Rob’s flat needing to be repaired and replaced, with the carpet and bathroom tiles now removed, and clothes, furniture and camera kit needing to be thrown out.
“I can’t even get into my bedroom because it’s full of stuff I’ve pulled out of the cupboards,” he added. “Most of that stuff absolutely stinks and you have to sniff it all to work out if it’s been in the sewage or not.
“I’ve got another big pile of stuff out in the hallway too, and that’s soaking and got flies all around it because of the faeces.”
After discovering the damage, Rob immediately rang the council, which owns the flat on Trenchard Drive, to send a plumber to fix the blocked pipe. The plumber arrived just a few hours later, although it wasn’t until 10pm that the blockage was cleared with the use of high-powered jets.
But while the blockage was now cleared, the horrendous mess remained and while he claims the plumber told him that a cleaning team would attend the property the following day, come Tuesday, nobody had showed, leading him to spend, he claims, “all day” on the phone to the council – ringing them 38 times in total.
“You can imagine how bad the smell was after nearly two days,” he added. “It was absolutely disgusting and I said to one of the managers that I couldn’t stay there. It was then that he said he could put me up in a nearby homeless shelter. I couldn’t believe it.
“I had a nice flat, it’s not my fault the place has been completely flooded. There are real health concerns and to be offered a place in a homeless shelter was just unacceptable.”
After he made a formal complaint to the council, a cleaning team eventually arrived at Rob’s flat on Wednesday, 48 hours after the flooding was discovered. However, there were to be even more issues, as he claimed the team greatly underestimated the size
It absolutely stank and there was faeces and toilet paper everywhere. I realised quite quickly that the sewage had come in through the toilet. Because of the blockage, every time my neighbours flushed their toilet, it would hit it and then come up through the pipe and out into my bathroom – mine is the only one that is flooded
Rob Escott
of the task at hand.
“They turned up with this little 250ml bottle of Dettol,” he claimed. “I used to throw a whole one of them in the bath after a rugby game. But they turned up to clean the flat with just that. From what they were saying, I think that they thought I had pooed on the floor in my bathroom and they were there to clean that up.”
The team then came back the next day with industrial cleaning products. However, that afternoon, Rob said the team “downed tools” as they had only been contracted to work at the flat for two days, despite some areas of the flat still being completely contaminated by the sewage.
A council representative did eventually visit the flat on Monday, June 13, at which point Rob had been living in the contaminated flat for a week. While the cleaning was eventually finished on the Tuesday, with the lino in the bathroom finally removed, he has been left appalled by his treatment at the hands of the council and says he plans to take legal action.
“The whole ordeal has been horrendous,” he said. “I’m sleeping on my sofa in the front room, which is terrible for me as I broke my back and neck in an accident I had years ago, so it’s really important I have somewhere comfortable to sleep. But it’s still better than being put into a homeless shelter.” He added: “I’ve been living surrounded by human waste and it’s taken over a week to sort it. However you look at it, that’s just not good enough.”
A Cardiff council spokesperson said: “A plumber from our Responsive Repairs Unit attended the property within a few hours of the tenant’s out of hours emergency call on June 6 and carried out works late into the evening to clear the toilet blockage, clean up waste water and disinfect the bathroom. Mr Escott requested that the damaged floor coverings were not removed at that time.
“Further cleaning took place to completion on June 8 and June 9 once Mr Escott confirmed the carpets could be removed. A move to an alternative property was offered, but that was initially declined by Mr Escott. At this point Mr Escott requested that a tenancy officer visit to inspect the property and works carried out so far.
“An inspection took place on June 13 when it was agreed that carpets and flooring should be replaced, and a replacement toilet and pipework boxing be installed. Works have already started and are due to complete by the end of this week, subject to the availability of parts and fittings and no further repair issues arising.
“Our tenancy management team has been in close contact with Mr Escott throughout this time, ensuring he has been kept aware of all the measures being taken to resolve the matter.”