Homeowners in Wilmington have criticised Thames Water after they were forced to wait over 80 days for a collapsed sewer to be repaired.
The sewer collapse happened in early September but because repairs need to take place on a busy section of road Thames Water had to delay the repair.
Residents have complained of things such as nappies, sanitary towels and even condoms seeping up through the ground near the damaged section of road.
When the damage occurred Thames Water installed a gulley sucker to clear the sewage from the homes affected.
Repairs finally started last Tuesday when two lanes of the A2 were closed to motorists so the London drainage engineers could perform a CCTV survey of the sewer.
A Thames Water spokesperson said:
“We need to have a tanker to take away sewage from The Close to prevent the properties in this street flooding with raw sewage.
“The collapsed sewer causing the issues is under the A2 and therefore we have had to gain permission from the local highway authority and from Connect Plus, who manage the M25.
“Unfortunately, this will not resolve the situation. We will then need to design the repair and then wait again for permission to access to the road to get this job done.
“We are really sorry for the length of time this is taking but we are doing everything we can to get it done as soon as possible.”