A concerned father had to ban his kids from playing in their back garden after raw sewage seeped out from a manhole following heavy rain.

Antony Jones, 29, of Eversley Road, Benfleet, said he could not risk the health of his children five-year-old daughter Maisy and two-year-old son Brady.

Mr Jones, who lives with wife Donna, said: "I was horrified when I looked out into my garden and saw all this raw sewage everywhere.

"It was raining most of the weekend and the water has flooded into the drainage system and pushed up all the sewage.

"There is a drainage manhole in my garden and that is where the sewage was coming from. We have had to deal with this happening three times since we moved in three years ago."

Mr Jones, who works for an asbestos removal company, said he contacted Anglian Water, the company responsible for the drainage system.

A spokeswoman for Anglian Water said it had sent out representative to clear up the mess. She said: "We did get a high number of calls over the weekend."

Published Tuesday November 25, 2003

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