Sewage Leak - Suck it up...

So all the poo and smell of poo has gone now and all 12 flats are sewer gas free so Thames Water have politely responded to our previous correspondence denying any responsibility for the poo coming out the ground or the gasses escaping up our drains and into our bathrooms.  There being 12 flats affected they are still falling back on the line that they can’t tell us exactly what each complainant complained about because of the Data Protection Act.  Because poo needs privacy.  They also seem to be saying that since we didn’t give them the opportunity to clear up their own poo because we had to get a tanker to suck it up because it was an urgent health hazard then they can’t take any responsibility for their shit.  I’m pretty sure they have to cough up under the guaranteed standards scheme but you have to admire the quality of their bullshit … if not the qualities of the human shit they seem to be unable to control...

Claim: External sewer flooding

Dear …

I write following on from our discussion on 3 February 2020, about your claim for re-imbursement of your contractor’s fees. You’ve requested confirmation of our liability decision in writing. Please see below as requested.

When we spoke, I informed you due to a collapse in our sewer main, we’ve been carrying out some work in [your road]. This has involved a lot of pumping out of sewage and may likely be the cause of the smells.

You explained, the issue affecting your property in Croydon was first reported to you by your tenants on 21 January 2020. By this time, the grounds of your property had been flooded for two days. You contacted us on 27 January 2020, after your private drain engineers had attended to investigate the cause of the external sewer flooding. Your contractors spoke with members of our waste crew on site, who advised your waste issues were due to our works. I understand, your contractor’s fees are in the region of £1000.00, and you’d like to make a claim for this to be re-imbursed.

I’ve searched my systems, and whilst there are enquiries relating to foul smells, there’s no mention of waste blockage or external sewer flooding at your property. These calls were made by other members of the public, and therefore, due to GDPR 2018 I’m unable to go into further details.

Our investigations

When we attend to investigate and clear blockages, we do so at no expense to the customer. This is because, we pay our contractors to carry out our work. In the event of flooding to the property, this may be either external or internal, we also offer to carry out a basic clean-up of affected areas. I'd like to advise, in future you must contact Thameswater as the first point of call, to investigate any issues with your drains. After we've investigated, if there are any issues with your private drains, we'll let you know.

If you experience any symptoms of blockages, or imminent flooding, please call our 24hr Contact Centre team, on 0800 3169800.

Liability

You didn’t contact us at any point while you experienced these issues, so we’re unable to determine the nature and cause of these problems due to lack of evidence. We may only be held liable for waste related incidents where we’ve directly caused the issue or where we’ve been negligent. i.e., when we’ve been made aware of a problem, but didn’t do anything about it. Unfortunately, we weren’t made aware of your problem, so we were unable to investigate and resolve the issue for you. Therefore, we haven’t been negligent. I regret to inform you your claim has been denied.

I appreciate this isn't the response you hoped for, but I trust I've clearly explained the reasons for my decision. Your case is now closed, however, if you need to speak with me, please call me on 0800 0093814. Our offices are open between the hours of 9am and 5pm, Monday to Friday.

We'd love to hear about your experience, please click here to tell us what we are doing well or what we can do better.

Yours sincerely

Vanessa

Which I think boils down to they think we have to suck up gettinga tanker out to suck up the poo... ?