Villagers erect ‘s--- show’ protest sign after Thames Water floods street with sewage

ANGRY residents have erected a “s--show” sign mocking Thames Water after a village was flooded with human waste.

Villagers in Lambourn, Berkshire, have been forced to wade through faeces and sanitary products after raw sewage began spewing out of manholes.

The water company has blamed the problem on the wet weather and said it is carrying out daily clean-up operations.

The issue appears to have started in December when a drain began to overflow, before it extended to other areas.

One resident, who did not wish to be named, said: “Our children have to wade through it all to get to school and the smell is abominable. We shouldn’t have to live like this.”

Passing cars are also churning up filth, which has been harmful to plants and wildlife.

The village sits in the North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and is just downstream of where The Great British Bake Off is filmed.

Fears have been raised about water contamination in the River Lambourn, the same chalk stream that features in the Channel 4 cookery show.

Villagers have spotted sanitary products, human faeces and even underwear bobbing around but Thames Water is yet to solve the problem. A mock road sign has been positioned along one road with the message “Lambourn s--- show” written on it.

Thames Water, which is in the midst of a financial crisis that could see it nationalised, said it was “working hard to keep our sewers flowing and to prevent further flooding”.

Apologising, a spokesman said: “The excessively heavy rain means the groundwater and river levels remain very high. A significant amount of this water is entering the local sewer system and causing flooding from manholes.

“We regularly monitor the water quality in the Lambourn and the results have shown a minimal impact on the environment because the flows are heavily diluted by the groundwater and surface water run-off.”