Blocked sewer leaves cottage smeared with flying poo

A blocked drain system has left a Leicestershire man with faeces and stones ‘flying over the front’ of his cottage. 

Sophocles Panayi, 43, claimed that ‘collapsed’ pipework had caused a blockage which left a puddle in the road that cars were unable to avoid.

The Leicestershire local lives in Copt Oak’s Whitwick Road, described the ‘horrendous’ smell from the drain which is around ‘two-and-a-half car lengths’ from his front door.

While walking to work at the nearby pub, the homeowner said he would have to avoid flying faeces.

After various emails and calls to Severn Trent asking them to address the issue, he said the ‘last straw’ was when workers turned up at 10pm one night in October without any notice, ‘smashing the road to pieces with a concrete breaker’, before later leaving at 2am.

Mr Panayi said that the ‘ordeal’ with the drain began seven years ago, prior to him moving into the 18th century cottage in 2022.

He said: “=’I am disabled, I have Crohn’s [disease] and Ulcerative colitis, it’s tiring for me to have to get the same message over time and time again. I am on chemotherapy every eight weeks, the last thing I need to do is run back onto the phone for people who don’t care.

‘My next door neighbour had her car parked on her drive and it was covered. I have had [faeces] flying over the front of my home.

‘The gate is rotten, it stinks, especially with the weather. We have had a lot of water and that has only exasperated everything else as well.

‘When I was trying to leave my home to get to the pub, I couldn’t go from the front of my property, I would have to time it through vehicles. I have got a dog, that was a concern as well. We know contamination is not good for animals.

‘It’s the stress, the finger pointing all the unnecessary chasing. All my garden needs digging out, the gate, the fence needs replacing, who would want to live with that?’

Mr Panayi claimed that Severn Trent had ‘tried fobbing everyone off’ by saying that work to fix the drain was not under their jurisdiction and that residents would have to foot the bill.

However, Mr Panayi claimed this was not the case after a drain search and previous temporary traffic orders had shown the drain to be under Severn Trent’s control.

The Copt Oak resident said he and his wife had chosen the property because of its rural location and because of the ‘peace and quiet of nature’ in the area, but their dream was now a nightmare.

He said: ‘It’s everything I have worked for. It has been an ordeal for the last seven years. They first tried fobbing everyone off, advising that it was private. I don’t see why I have to walk across stones and shit because of them. It has not been pleasant for my wife and I. I have been passed from pillar to post by Severn Trent.’

Mr Panayi said that Severn Trent have ‘constantly’ sent a team to unblock the drain, instead of what he claimed was the core issue of the ‘collapsed’ pipework. He claimed that it had been ‘left’ for ‘so long’ that brick was coming through the pipe.

He said: ‘Everytime that traffic light changes I have a 15 foot wave of faeces flying into my home. I have given them [Severn Trent] more than enough chances, my poor neighbours are just tired and beaten.

‘I have been with Severn Trent for 27 years through two properties, I have never paid a bill late.’

A Severn Trent spokesman said: ‘We’ve carried out a number of investigations in the area as there have been repeated blockages caused by sewer misuse, and found each time our pipes are working as they should with no issues.

‘We fully understand blockages cause problems, and our teams have been on site again this week and found another blockage that has been cleared but caused by the incorrect things being put into the network.

‘To help prevent further blockages, we’d ask everyone to always bin wipes and sanitary products, and not put fats and oils down the sink.’

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