THIS morning (December 1) I have read your piece on the sewage issue at Manor Road in Oxford and, having read the comment of the Thames Water spokesman, I am left utterly outraged at his obvious lack of respect for the residents affected by this issue, by daring to claim it is the fault of unusually high rainfall for the sewage issue under their floorboards following the floods.

Any lay person who looks into the reported incidents records in recent decades will know that it is indeed exceptionally heavy rainfall that results in their homes being flooded every few years.

But the issue of sewage pumping out of manholes into their gardens and across pavements happens almost every time it rains, resulting in the council having to replace garden top soil regularly in clean-ups.

This is not due to exceptionally high rainfall, it is the fault of inadequate or faulty sewage/water drainage systems that have not been kept up to date with population and environment changes over the years.

This is not the Third World and no one, children especially, in this day and age should be forced to endure walking through other people’s faeces and dirty toilet tissue to go to school each day.

This ‘spokesman’ should be ashamed of his apparent total lack of knowledge and/or respect for what the residents of places such as Manor Road have to endure on a regular basis, all while paying their water bills in exchange for a responsibility of expected ‘service’ that appears to be falling far short of the mark. Disgusting!

CATRIONA ING, Robsart Place, Oxford