A MAN says he has been waiting three years for water company staff to solve his blocked drain problems.

Robert Grimstead's ordeal began when a water supply pipe was installed for a neighbour in The Lane, Sedgefield, which he says damaged a sewer.

Ever since then, he says raw sewage keeps coming to the surface around manhole covers on his property.

Officials from Northumbrian Water periodically unblock the drain and have tried to find the cause of the blockage, but Mr Grimstead says the problem has still not been resolved.

The latest visit was about two weeks ago, when a television camera was used to try to find out what is causing the blockage.

Mr Grimstead, who used to work for Northumbrian Water, said: "They come out and clean it away, but that is not solving the problem.

"The sewage has been backed up to the manhole a number of times.

"You can actually see the grease and muck around the top."

He said: "It is raw sewage, it is not even treated. Enough is enough.

"It is ridiculous, and what really narks me is they prosecute people for fouling rivers and streams, so I would have thought this would be a priority."

A spokeswoman for Northumbrian Water said that if the sewer had been damaged, it would have been a result of there being no records for the property.

She said the CCTV survey should reveal the cause of the problem.

"If the sewer is public then we will carry out the necessary work. If it's private it'll be the responsibility of the householder," she said.

"But if the problem was caused by work Northumbrian Water did on the supply pipe then we will carry out the repair whether it is private or public."