‘Shocking’ incidents of sewage spewing into gardens and streets – with disease outbreaks ‘very possible’
When Martin Greenbank moved into his home in Guildford 15 years ago, he thought it was just right for his growing family.
Near a good state secondary school, and with a blooming back garden, where daffodils spring up beneath a cooking apple tree, and lavender and shrubs border his proudly maintained lawn.
It would be the perfect place for his children to play – or so he thought.
Because, for the last 18 months, “every time it rains moderately”, untreated sewage bursts out of a manhole cover in his back garden, streams across the lawn, along the patio and out through the back gate.
“We get all the foul stuff – effluent, toilet roll, wet wipes, poo dumped in our garden,” he says.
“It stinks.”
Sewage and rainwater pouring through Martin Greenbank’s back garden
The flood leaves behind a thick layer of brown sludge beneath the apple tree
The only reason it didn’t come into the house again in February is because he had placed sandbags outside to stop it from happening again.
Untreated sewage can be riddled with diseases like e.coli and salmonella, and it only takes a few cells to enter your body to make you ill.
Mr Greenbank and his wife aren’t letting their three children use the back garden for the time being.
“I shouldn’t be paying anything for this at the moment, [while] having someone else’s wastewater dumped in our garden. It’s a cheek to think it’s acceptable.”
The pressure in the sewer forced the lid off the manhole cover in Martin Greenbank’s back garden
A ‘national scandal’
The problem, known as sewer flooding, is generally caused by a blockage or excessive amounts of sewage or rain, causing untreated sewage to burst out of a weak point in the system, such as a manhole cover.
There were 47,000 cases of sewer flowing on private land and gardens in England and Wales between April 2022 and March 2023.
While these recorded cases have fallen in recent years, those that happen on public land are not reported in the same way.
That means the overall figure is likely much higher, and it is difficult to determine quite how bad the problem is.
Aidan Taylor, lecturer in microbiology at Reading University, says conditions in parts of England are reminiscent of “conditions last seen in Victorian London, where raw sewage was openly dumped into the street and outbreaks of diseases spread by sewage, such as cholera, were common”.
He called it “alarming” to be back in this situation today. “It is very possible we will see outbreaks of disease as a result.”
Labour calls it “sickening beyond belief”, and the Liberal Democrats call it a “national scandal”.
A mini fountain of sewage near Shrivenham in Oxfordshire. Pic: Chris Langlay-Smith
The aftermath in Shrivenham. Pic Katherine Foxhall
The problem starts from the fact the UK has a combined sewer network.
That means rainwater and sewage from homes and businesses all wash down the same pipes into a treatment works to be cleaned.
Emergency discharges into rivers – known as combined sewer overflows – have recently prompted widespread public anger at the polluted state of the nation’s waterways.
But sewer flooding, when sewage comes out of weak points in the system like manhole covers, is affecting people closer to home, pouring toilet roll, foul smells and misery into the streets where people live and children walk to school.
‘Humans faeces all over the lawn’
It’s happening around the country.
Rebecca Jordan in Barrowden, a pretty village of stone cottages with thatched rooves, nestled among hills and rivers in Rutland, East Midlands, was sitting at home one Sunday last September when the heavens opened and unleashed a “monsoon-like” sudden, fast downpour.
Worried about the “deluge of rain” flowing down the hill towards her house, she looked out the window at her garden, where normally her chickens and dog happily roam around, and her children play on the trampoline.
But on this day, she saw the manhole cover lift up on to the lawn, “and absolutely tonnes of shit came out. Genuinely, there’s really no other way of putting it”.
“There were just human faeces all over the lawn. Loo paper, tampons and you name it, it was there.
“Wet wipes, stuff you just don’t think people flush down the loo.
“It turns out people in my village do, because it’s all over my lawn.”
She praised the rapid response and fix by Anglian Water. But elsewhere in the country, campaigners have complained about the same thing happening for a long time.
Toilet roll and sanitary products litter the lawn after sewer flooding in Rebecca Jordan’s garden
In Grimston, north Norfolk, a manhole cover has been “spewing untreated sewage and foul water into a local chalk stream from the same spot for more than two years” every time it rains moderately, according to Gaywood River Revival, which campaigns to protect the chalk stream.
The “absolutely disgusting” smell “lingers in the air outside”, a spokesperson for the group told Sky News.
Over in Oxfordshire, Ash Smith, of the Windrush Against Sewage Pollution (WASP) group, in February spotted a manhole cover on Station Road in Shipton-under-Wychwood leaking toilet roll.
“There’s kids walking and cycling to school” along the road, he says. “You get splashed by cars, it’s thrown into the air.”
Flooding from a manhole cover in Grimston, north Norfolk. Pic: Gaywood River Revival
Who’s to blame?
Sometimes it’s down to blockages in the system, as turned out to be the case with roots and a brick near Martin’s house, or wet wipes and fat in Norfolk. Thames Water and Anglian have both since sent respective teams to unblock the pipes and promised clear-ups.
But all water companies Sky News spoke to said the extremely wet winter, with lots of named storms, was simply overwhelming their system.
The rainwater either washes down the drain or infiltrates the pipes via soggy ground, if the sewers are poorly sealed or are cracked.
Climate change is not likely to help, forecast as it is to concentrate rain in the UK into more intense downpours, according to the Met Office.
The regulator, Ofwat, has asked water companies to start preparing for these changes.
In the meantime, the country’s ageing sewer system is also threatening desperately needed house-building, with the Environment Agency recently objecting to a development in Oxfordshire on the basis the sewer system couldn’t cope.
Campaigners argue the system should be designed or upgraded to cope with heavy rain.
Mr Smith says: “Rain in winter is hardly a surprising event.
“We are sick of hearing the same lame excuses about the weather. They [water companies] have been in charge for 30 years and still haven’t got to grips with it.”
A flooding sewer in Shrivenham. Pic: Chris Langlay-Smith
Residents ‘expect action’ to stop sewer flooding
Sir John Armitt, chair of government advisory body the National Infrastructure Commission, says residents can “rightly expect action to tackle these shocking incidents”.
Water companies should better maintain and expand their systems “to reduce the risk of blockages and collapses”, he told Sky News.
A spokesperson for industry group Water UK said: “We understand the inconvenience that sewer flooding can cause, and thankfully there has been a 20% reduction in sewage flooding gardens and land over the past few years.”
Companies are proposing a £10.2bn investment to “radically increase the capacity of our sewers to stop sewer flooding and prevent spills”, including installing huge storm tanks to hold rainwater and sustainable drainage projects.
But it urged the government to implement policies including ending the automatic right of developers to connect new houses to sewers and allowing water companies to repair drains on private property.
Sewage and rainwater rising up in Martin Greenbank’s back garden
Labour and the Liberal Democrats accused the government of allowing water companies to get away with it.
Liberal Democrat environment spokesperson Tim Farron MP said: “This is a national scandal. The government has allowed these firms to make massive profits whilst letting pipes and infrastructure fall apart.”
Labour’s Steve Reed, shadow environment secretary, called it “sickening beyond belief” and urged the government to “stand up to water companies”.
The Lib Dems said water firms should pay out to affected residents, while Labour said it would give the regulator, Ofwat, the power to ban water boss bonuses.
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs told Sky News it is “taking tough action to hold polluters to account”, including increasing water company inspections fourfold, recruiting more staff, and consulting on water company bonus bans.
“As part of our efforts to reduce the volume of water going into our sewers, we are also increasing sustainable drainage systems in new developments and will be consulting on this shortly.”
As for Mr Greenbank in Guildford, Thames Water sent a team to clear his pipes after being contacted by Sky News, and is in the process of cleaning his garden, although there hasn’t been more heavy rain since then to test the fix.
“But I won’t be eating anything off that apple tree for at least another year,” he says.
Martin Greenbank set up a barrage to stop the water from entering his home again
Water companies say they are clearing up and making improvements
A spokesperson for Thames Water apologised for the sewer flooding at Martin Greenbank’s home and recognised “how difficult this situation can be for any customer, and unfortunately in his case both heavy rain and a blocked sewer pipe have contributed to the sewer flooding”.
Its engineers have “now cleared the pipe, which should resolve the issue and help to prevent it from happening again”, and it is working on a refund and a goodwill payment.
Regarding the Shipton-under-Wychwood manhole cover, Thames Water said its engineers located and removed “a blockage in the sewer caused by a combination of fat and wet wipes”.
“Customers can help us prevent these kinds of blockages, which can cause sewage to back up out of manholes, by only flushing the three Ps – pee, poo and paper.”
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An Anglian Water spokesperson said the “ongoing issues at Grimston pumping station are caused by surface and groundwater infiltration into our sewer network following the ongoing wet weather”.
“We’re working very closely with the Environment Agency to monitor the issue and have teams checking the site regularly. We’re currently using tankers to take the excess water away and create more capacity in the network.”
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Thames Water also apologised to people in Shrivenham “impacted by overflowing manholes this winter”.
“The heavy rainfall caused our local sewer system to overload, resulting in heavily diluted wastewater to escape from nearby manholes.”
It cited “higher-than-average long-term rainfall… with groundwater levels also normal to exceptionally high for the time of the year”.
It is planning to complete a £17m upgrade to the nearby including Witney Sewage Treatment Works this year, which “will give a 66% increase in treatment capacity by the end of this year”.
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UK
Nazi flags, patient ‘sexually assaulted’, ‘dog poo left at whistleblower’s home’: Sky News investigates UK’s ‘worst ambulance service’
A grandmother who claims she was sexually assaulted by a private paramedic on the way to hospital has told Sky News she has been failed by the ambulance service.
Warning: This article contains references to sexual abuse and suicide
It comes as a staff survey of the same service – the South East Coast Ambulance Service (SECAmb) – heard damning claims of a culture of discrimination and bullying; with allegations of Nazi flags on team video calls and a “boy’s club” culture where whistleblowers are punished.
It’s been more than a year since a Sky News investigation first heard of a culture of rampant sexual harassment and abuse in ambulance services.
These issues have existed for decades right across the country.
But now the GMB union, which represents ambulance workers, is calling on the chief executive of SECAmb, Simon Weldon, to resign.
It’s after a survey of workers heard high instances of inappropriate behaviour and bullying; with a huge fear of speaking out.
It’s led the GMB to call for an independent investigation, with one representative branding the ambulance trust “the worst in the country”.
The trust told us it is committed to working with unions for positive change.
‘I just lay there, terrified’
Juliette was treated by paramedics after she was hit by a car while cycling
Juliette, 65, has spent four years trying to get her local ambulance trust to listen. In 2021, she accused a private paramedic working with SECAmb of sexually assaulting her.
Hit by a car while cycling through Surrey, she remembers lying on the stretcher in agony, afraid to move in case she was paralysed. Two paramedics carried out assessments for around 90 minutes before driving her to hospital.
But as soon as she was alone in the back with just one of them, she claims the male paramedic suddenly told her he wanted to “check her hips”.
“There was no asking, no consent,” she says. And instead of touching her hips, she claims he sexually assaulted her.
“With his left hand, he opened my shorts up – and put his right hand into my cycling shorts.
“Between my legs.”
Juliette says she was left feeling ‘insulted, betrayed and humiliated’
She doesn’t want to go into the details, but she says she temporarily froze, powerless and terrified of what he might do. All the while he stared down into her eyes and said nothing.
“I felt so uncomfortable. Shamed, frightened, shocked. I didn’t want it to continue.”
A letter of formal complaint
She said her brain eventually “snapped into place” and she moved her legs. She claims he then removed his hand, and sat behind her head in silence for the rest of the journey.
“I just lay there – terrified,” she whispers.
She reported it to the police the following day, but with no CCTV in the ambulance, it was her word against his. With no hope of a successful prosecution, the Met Police dropped the case.
South East Coast Ambulance’s response to a request for CCTV images
Then she turned her attention to the ambulance service, hopeful it would act.
We’ve seen correspondence between Juliette’s lawyers and SECAmb, which promised to respond to the formal complaint within 25 days. That was repeatedly delayed for several months.
“It was about seven months after the accident. They still hadn’t acknowledged anything to do with the sexual assault,” she recalls.
“They hadn’t answered any questions.”
Eventually, they effectively said the assault hadn’t happened; claiming that Juliette herself had started to remove her cycling shorts, and that “consent was given” for an examination after she complained of a pain in her leg.
She unequivocally denies every detail of this account.
She says it left her feeling “insulted, betrayed and humiliated”.
Why – she asks – would somebody think she had “wasted all this time”.
“It’s too late for me,” she adds, but she is making a stand to help others avoid the same trauma.
Amelia (not her real name) talking to Sky News’ Rachael Venables
Culture of discrimination, harassment and bullying
The GMB represents a large number of the 4,000 SECAmb staff, and recently carried out a survey of their members about their experiences of working life.
From the nearly 900 responses, the union claims they identified a culture of discrimination towards women staff members with sexual harassment, bullying, and a general “boys’ club” culture.
Of those surveyed, 25.6% had experienced bullying and 26% had witnessed inappropriate conduct. Racism was witnessed by 16% and sexual harassment by 17.2%.
What’s more, 80% didn’t feel confident the trust would support them if they flagged concerning behaviour.
‘He’s always been into Nazi stuff’
Ambulance worker Amelia (not her real name) told Sky News she finally blew the whistle on inappropriate behaviour a few years ago after she joined a video call with colleagues to discuss staffing levels.
One of the managers joined them from home. To Amelia’s shock, he appeared on their office screen with a large red, white and black Nazi swastika flag prominently behind him.
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NHS manager joined call with Nazi flag
On his desk was a framed photo of Adolf Hitler, next to what she says looked like a young woman at graduation. On the bookshelves sat a red swastika armband and what she was later told was a World War Two grenade.
She was horrified.
“I kept looking around the room thinking, ‘why is no one saying anything?’… When I spoke to people afterwards they said: ‘Oh yeah… he’s always been into Nazi stuff.”
At first, she blew the whistle anonymously, but was told she’d have to name herself and put in a formal grievance for it to be investigated.
A report seen by Sky News found the manager’s “inappropriate behaviour” should have been challenged, but he still works for SECAmb.
Amelia claims she was isolated by her colleagues, frozen out of meetings and uninvited to team events, saying “it killed my career”.
An independent report found there wasn’t enough evidence to prove that she had been deliberately excluded.
At one point the police were involved, then days later, she says, “I had bags of dog faeces on my doorstep. That went on for a few days, I felt like a prisoner in my own home”.
“Whenever I heard sirens, I got palpitations. I was terrified of who would be in that ambulance.”
‘They become the problem’
When people like Amelia speak out “they become the problem”, says Lib Whitfield, a senior GMB organiser.
Lib started working with the trust eight years ago, after an independent report was published, highlighting behaviours similar to those referenced in this article.
Senior GMB organiser Lib Whitfield
The culture is now the “worst it’s ever been”, says Lib, and she believes it’s the “worst in the country”.
“I am receiving calls every single day from members who are suicidal,” she adds.
Lib says the union has now written to the health secretary, Wes Streeting, with three demands.
“Firstly, we need a full independent investigation into the culture of SECAmb that results in actions and not just words,” she says.
“Secondly, we are calling for the resignation of the current chief executive who has overseen this getting worse.
“And thirdly, we are calling for an interim chief executive to be appointed who is external to SECAmb and who can have external reporting to ensure they are not corrupted.”
Read more
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We took these allegations to the ambulance trust, which wanted to point out that the alleged events happened before Mr Weldon took over as chief executive.
It also said it had issues with the way the anonymous survey was conducted.
A spokesperson said in a statement: “We continue to work hard to make SECAmb a safe organisation for all of our people and are committed to drive real change.
“The historic cases highlighted were thoroughly investigated, including through independent external reviews, and we firmly believe these cases do not reflect the views of the majority of our people on how it feels to work at SECAmb currently.
“We continue to engage openly with the whole trust about the further improvements we want to make and about the changes needed for the ambulance sector as whole.
“We remain absolutely committed to working with our unions to achieve this, although this will only happen with constructive collaboration on all sides.”
Health Secretary Wes Streeting did not respond to our request for an interview, but in a statement a Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “This is an extremely concerning report and we are looking closely at it. Sexual harassment or abuse within the NHS is completely unacceptable and must be dealt with appropriately.”
Anyone feeling emotionally distressed or suicidal can call Samaritans for help on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org in the UK. In the US, call the Samaritans branch in your area or 1 (800) 273-TALK.
Liverpool have won the Premier League title after a 5-1 victory over Tottenham at Anfield.
Arne Slot’s men did it in impressive style, turning over Spurs in a convincing win.
It was a rocky start for the Reds after Dominic Solanke put the north London side ahead.
However, fortunes quickly changed in the first half as Liverpool scored three times without a response.
Captain Virgil van Dijk (centre) celebrates. Pic: Reuters
Salah on his knees in celebration after the final whistle. Pic: AP
Liverpool’s Harvey Elliott (below) and Jarell Quansah celebrate after full-time. Pic: PA
Slot cheers after the full-time whistle. Pic: AP
In the second half, it took until the 63rd minute for Mohamed Salah to make it 4-1 before a fifth followed.
The Reds have won the title in manager Arne Slot’s first season in charge, and move level with fierce rivals Manchester United on 20 league championships.
But it makes them arguably the most successful English club ever as they have won more European Cup or Champions League titles.
Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk told Sky Sports after the final whistle: “It’s special and it’s something that we don’t take for granted. It’s amazing.
“A lot of emotions before the game, during the whole week, but we got the job done and we (are) truly deserved champions of England. (Liverpool is) the most beautiful club in the world and I think we deserve all of this. Let’s enjoy the next couple of weeks and let it sink in.”
Liverpool’s Kostas Tsimikas poses with a Premier League trophy cut out. Pic: Reuters
Manager Arne Slot and his team after the final whistle. Pic: AP
Slot took over last summer from Jurgen Klopp, who guided them to their previous and maiden Premier League title triumph in 2020, when the COVID-19 lockdown saw matches played behind closed doors.
He is the first Dutch manager to win the Premier League and the fifth man to do so in a debut campaign after Jose Mourinho, Carlo Ancelotti, Manuel Pellegrini, and Antonio Conte.
Speaking to Sky Sports he said: “They [the players] did an outstanding job today. The main job was to win. Everyone said we had got it already. But we had to make sure and we got over the line.”
Several players, including Alisson Becker, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Virgil van Dijk, and Mohamed Salah, played leading roles in both the 2025 and 2020 campaigns.
Van Dijk and Salah recently signed new contracts extending their careers at the club.
Mohamed Salah takes a selfie with fans after scouring the fourth Liverpool goal. Pic: AP
Fans at Anfield during the game. Pic: AP
Fans in the stands at Anfield before full-time. Pic: Reuters
Liverpool will have to wait until the final game of the season – at home to Crystal Palace on 25 May – to be presented with the Premier League trophy.
It will be the first time the club’s fans will have seen their side lift the top-flight title in person since 1990.
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Two pro-Palestinian demonstrators have thrown red powder on Tower Bridge – just moments before leading runners in the London Marathon went past.
The protesters were arrested on suspicion of causing a public nuisance and remain in custody, said the Metropolitan Police.
A video shared by Youth Demand, which is calling for a trade embargo on Israel, shows two people jumping over a barrier that separates spectators from the race course.
The pair, wearing t-shirts that say “Youth Demand: Stop Arming Israel”, are then seen standing in the middle of the road on the bridge.
Pic: LNP
They throw red powder in the air as an official marathon car goes past displaying the race time.
A motorbike with a cameraman on board continues along the route, while a second motorbike stops and one of the riders gets off and pushes the pair out of the way, just before the men’s elite runners pass.
Several police officers then jump over the barrier and detain the pair, the footage shows.
There appeared to be no impact on the marathon.
More than 56,000 participants were expected to take part in the 26.2-mile race through the capital.
Sabastian Sawe of Kenya won the men’s elite race in a time of two hours, two minutes and 27 seconds, while Ethiopia’s Tigst Assefa shattered the women’s-only world record in two hours, 15 minutes and 50 seconds.
Assefa beat the previous best of two hours, 16 minutes and 16 seconds set last year in London by Kenyan Peres Jepchirchir.
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Pic: LNP
The Metropolitan Police said in a statement: “At around 10.38am, two protesters from Youth Demand jumped over barriers at Tower Bridge and threw red paint on to the road.
“Marathon event staff intervened to remove the protesters from the path of the men’s elite race which was able to pass unobstructed.”
The force added that they were “quickly supported by police officers who arrested the protesters on suspicion of causing a public nuisance”.
The Met said the paint “appeared to be chalk-based” and was not expected to “present a hazard to runners yet to pass this point”.
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