Raw sewage from prison caused floods around flats in Leicester

A woman has said her family are scared to use the toilet after their flat was left surrounded with raw sewage from a prison.

Sarah Cargill lives in an East Midlands Housing flat in Eyres Monsell, Leicester, which backs on to HMP Fosse Way.

The flats were surrounded with sewage water after blockages in the drains in December and then again in March, when officials reportedly said it was caused by “oranges, apples and fruit” being flushed down the prison’s toilets.

Severn Trent said it cut water bills after the floods and East Midlands Housing said it had done what it could to support tenants, while prison operator Serco said the matter was now resolved.

But Ms Cargill has said some areas around their flats are still splattered with sewage, including faeces, and she has not been given any guarantees the problem will not happen again.

She said the most recent flood in March took “about a week-and-a-half” to fix as the sewage “kept coming back”.

“They left it so long to actually come. We kept telling them, it’s next to a walkway with kids and dog walkers traipsing through,” Ms Cargill added.

“They lifted the metal cover that connects the prison to ours.

“They could see that it was full and we had sewage coming up through both of the side entrances going into the communal gardens.”

Following the floods in December, Ms Cargill said her family were scared to use the toilet, “because the water kept rising up. It was gurgling all the while”.

She claimed the only advice she got from East Midlands Housing was: “Don’t flush the toilet”.

Severn Trent said it could not guarantee sewer flooding will not reoccur, but it has reduced bills for tenants by 50% and a spokesperson said the company has worked with the prison to reduce the likelihood of the flood reoccurring.

A spokesperson said: “If anyone suspects there is sewer flooding, we strongly advise that they avoid the area and in particular keep pets and children away from the site”.

Alex Cooney, Leicestershire waste team lead at Severn Trent, added: “We absolutely understand how unpleasant sewer flooding can be and our teams attended and cleared the site as quickly as possible.

“We always try to respond to any calls regarding sewer flooding as soon as we can, however, there are times when crews are called to other urgent jobs.”

Ian Davies, group director of property at EMH, said: “We contacted Severn Trent Water to add our voice to the residents’ and ensure it had been reported directly.

“We also deployed our specialist last month to see if we could resolve any immediate issues inside the home and advised our residents most recently to contact Environmental Health if the external problem remained.

“We will continue to support our residents wherever we can as their safety and wellbeing remains paramount for us.”

The Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) has reported that prison operator Serco said the matter had now been resolved.