An 82-year-old man waited more than year for Thames Water to fix a broken sewer pipe on his property which he believes is causing his house to become unstable.

George Haslam lives on Thesiger Road in Abingdon, and he has become increasingly concerned about cracks appearing on his porch and in his house.

In May 2020, Mr Haslam reported to his insurers an issue with subsidence to his house.

Oxford Mail:

He believes the subsidence is due to damaged drains under his drive and said that repairs to his house will be able to be made once the sewer pipe, which is owned by Thames Water, is fixed.

In September last year, Thames Water agreed to survey the drains and do necessary repairs. However, Mr Haslam waited more than a year with a sinking porch and growing cracks in his walls for Thames Water to finally start to fix the drains.

Oxford Mail:

Mr Haslam said: "I noticed a while back that the porch was sinking and coming away from the roof, so I reported it to the insurance people. The insurers suspected that the broken drains was leaking water and making the ground soft and the porch sink."

He added: "I was told by Thames Water it was not a priority, but waiting one and a half years while cracks are appearing and getting bigger is worrying. I just sit and worry about it sometimes."

On Wednesday, Thames Water arrived at Mr Haslam's house to fix the drains and repairs are now underway.

Read also: Thames Water boss brands own company's performance 'unacceptable'

The water company has said that it is currently not clear if the broken sewer pipe is the cause of the subsidence. Once Thames Water have finished repairs Mr Haslam’s insurers will be able to carry on their investigation to establish if the broken sewer is a contributing factor to the subsidence, as it may or may not be linked.

Yesterday a spokesperson from Thames Water said: “We’re really sorry it’s taken so long to start repairing the broken sewer pipe and are reviewing why this case wasn’t resolved sooner. Keeping a customer waiting this long isn’t acceptable, especially when they’re understandably concerned about the stability of their home.

" We have a team fixing the pipe today who will also inspect the rest of the pipe while they’re there to check for any further defects. Once this is complete we’ll feed back to Mr Haslam, or his insurers, so their investigations into the cause of subsidence can continue.”

Keep up to date with all the latest news on our website, or follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

For news updates straight to your inbox, sign up to our newsletter here.

Have you got a story for us? Contact our newsdesk on news@nqo.com or 01865 425 445.