PEOPLE say they are living in “constant fear” after a sewage pipe burst for the fifth time in eight weeks - just days before Christmas.

Nigel Sweet, from Lancing, said “dreadful” smelling sewage has started leaking on to the street this afternoon.

Nigel, who lives in The Broadway near the crossroads with Orient Road, claims Southern Water are showing “no urgency” for the situation.

Southern Water has repaired the pipe several times since it first burst in October, but the leaks have continued and people in the area are worried about their houses being flooded.

The 63-year-old told The Argus: “It’s not just the fact these leaks are happening, it’s the fact we’re in this constant fear at any point of another sewage inundation coming.

“Any time it happens we have to move our cars out the way because the sewage gets plastered everywhere. We have to wash the cars down, the road gets washed down. Southern Water eventually do that.”

The Argus understands that Southern Water is holding an emergency meeting this afternoon and will look to fix the repairs as soon as possible.

The Argus: The leaking road pictured in OctoberThe leaking road pictured in October

Nigel added: “It’s not just the fact it’s happening regularly, which it is, there is no remedy. They have stopped the leak and now we have three big holes I the roads around here covering half the road.

“There is always that risk it is going to come into the houses. Three bungalows further down from us have actually had sewage in their houses. We’re all in fear of it, it’s not ideal before Christmas.

“There is clearly an ongoing problem, there has been three separate leaks along the road. We want a proper solution to this, we don’t want to put up this. It has wider implications on surrounding roads in the area too.”

Southern Water apologised and said it is working as hard as possible to resolve the issue.

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