RAW sewage poured from a pumping station into an industrial estate in Wallbridge causing damage to thousands of pounds worth of stock.


A storage depot at Lower Wharf Industrial Estate used by CFL Construction and Hi-Lite Windows was left in a disgusting state when more than a million litres of sewage flooded the area due to a broken valve.


The depot was covered in contaminated water and sewage continued to spew out for around three hours before an engineer from Severn Trent Water was able to fix the fault.


Jason Benstock, general manager of CLF, and John Watkins, director of Hi-Lite, were angry because contractors sent by Seven Trent said they were unable to help clean commercial premises or contaminated stock.


Mr Benstock, who estimated around £60,000 worth of stock was damaged, said: "We were left to clean up on our own and saw condoms and all sorts floating around, it was disgusting.


"The stock still needs decontaminating and thousands of pounds worth of stock has been completely written off."


In response, Severn Trent said it only has responsibility for ensuring external areas such as pathways are cleaned.


Sewage also flooded an office used by Hi-Lite Windows and flowed into the canal and over a footpath during the incident on Sunday, February 10.


Mr Watkins, who is still calculating the cost of the damage, said: "My office is ruined. The sewage has soaked into the carpets and the plasterboard walls."


A spokesman for Severn Trent said improvement work would be carried out on the pumping station to ensure the problem would not be repeated.


"We advise our customers to contact their insurance company which will then carry out a thorough clean up of the property as part of the policy," she added.


"It is important that we don't hinder the claim process which is why we didn't carry this work out.


"We are sorry if we didn't make this clear when we spoke to the customers."