A STRANGE smell across Oxford was last night and this morning reported by residents.

The warm weather caused many to open windows last night, only to be greeted by what one Twitter user described “a stench of raw sewage.”

A spokeswoman for Thames Water has said it's not aware of any problems with its sewage network. 

She said: "I’ve spoken to the teams at Oxford sewage treatment works and all our equipment is working as usual and there have been no operational problems."

More than 75 readers have now contacted the Oxford Mail to say they smelt the odour in areas including Old Marston, Headington, Risinghurst, Wood Farm, East Oxford, Cowley and even Jericho and Osney.

Here's a map of reports of reports of the pong so far:

  • This is indicative of areas only, not specific street locations

Gerry Vickers, who last night was visiting his elderly mum in Headington Quarry, said the smell had made it “impossible to go out of the house”.

He said: “The smell lingered from the afternoon until well into the early hours. At first we thought it was the food bin as it had been hot, but it was soon clear that this was not the case.”

Mr Vickers said his family called Thames Water but when an engineer visited this morning, no problems could be found.

He added: “He was insistent that nothing was untoward and left a leaflet saying 'no bad smell, no blockage'.

“But my sister also returned from London last night and said that the smell was nauseating all the way from the Green Road Roundabout.

"I am glad we were not the only ones to have noticed this and I will be interested to find out the reason."

Oxford City Council is also understood to be making enquiries and the Oxford Mail has asked the Environment Agency and Oxfordshire County Council for information as well.

More to follow.

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