RAW sewage flooded shops in Witney’s High Street yesterday after fat blocked underground pipes.

Waste started flowing out from under the drain cover outside the Co-op store and Scrivens opticians at about 9am.

Shop floors were covered in sewage, to a depth of a centimetre, and staff had to use brooms to brush it back out into the street.

Timpson, Boots, Co-op, and Scrivens were among the stores affected. The Co-op was forced to shut temporarily but quickly re-opened.

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Oxfordshire County Council’s highways staff had to put out sandbags around the High Street Methodist Church.

Scrivens manager Jennifer Blackie, 25, said the drain has erupted at least once a year for the last seven.

She said: “When we left work on Tuesday we could see some water around the drain but it was clear water so we didn’t think anything of it.

“But this morning it was all over the pavement and it was brown and full of loo roll and everything else. Customers had to walk in it to get into my shop.

“Thames Water got here quite quickly but it absolutely stank.

“They haven’t done anything about it and it happens once each year. That’s not acceptable.”

Mrs Blackie said she believed the problem stemmed from a blocked drain in the middle of High Street, which she had often seen Thames Water staff working on.

Sarah Sharpe, for Thames Water, said a main sewer runs down the middle of the High Street, with smaller drains leading from each property. It was one of these that had became blocked.

She said: “A fat blockage in our sewer pipe led to five properties suffering sewer flooding today.

“Our engineers are assessing the situation now, talking to customers and checking the sewer pipe, and doing their best to get the area back to normal, as fast as possible.”

Thames Water officers disinfected the street after the incident and Ms Sharpe said the firm plans to increase its cleaning rota for the sewer from once to twice a year.


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