Frustrated villagers want Thames Water to take action over sewage being pumped into a village stream.

Householders in Tackley, near Bicester, say waste which gets pumped into the village stream after heavy rainfall is a threat to the environment.

Thames Water has permission from the Environment Agency to use the stream.

It warned that residents' toilets could overflow unless excess water was pumped into the water- course.

Following the heavy rain at the weekend, the company used tankers to remove water from its pumping station in St John's Road, which it said was inundated with rainwater.

But residents have called on the company to take action to find a permanent solution to the problem.

Philip Tarry, 47, of St John's Road, said: "The sewage system can't cope with heavy rainfall, so Thames Water pumps waste into the stream at the back of my garden.

"If I were to re-route my sewage pipes into the stream, I would be prosecuted for it, but Thames Water just carries on doing it."

Mr Tarry first complained about the waste problem in February 2001, when he contacted the Oxford Mail.

He added: "I don't see why, after two years, Thames Water should still be allowed to do this.

"They're messing up the environment and I can't get any sense out of them."

A Thames Water spokesman said: "The consequence could be that the sewage system fills up and restricts the use of toilets in people's homes. When people flush their toilets there could be nowhere for the waste to go.

"In a worst case scenario toilets could overflow with sewage."

The spokesman added: "We work very closely with the Environment Agency and have consent to discharge some overflows into that stream.

"This happened two years ago, after the winter of 2000 when we had high levels of rainfall that are only expected every 300 years.

"We're now monitoring the situation, in terms of the frequency of the need to use this ditch.

"We don't want to have this in place as a long-term solution.

"We would like to apologise to residents for any inconvenience, but the Environment Agency has allowed us to continue to do this.