Stinking garden swamp is killing my dogs

Jane Bamford, of Green, Lane, Worcester, is 'sick with worry' after both her dogs became violently ill which she blames on her stinking, sodden garden oozing black mud and mould. 

The 58-year-old has complained to Platform Housing, which manages her bungalow, about the rancid quagmire several times and says the chief executive's personal assistant has done her best to help her.

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She said: "I don't call it my garden. I call it 'the swamp'. I'm waiting for an alligator to come out of it. It has been nothing but trouble since we moved in."

When it rains Ms Bamford said the garden becomes more like 'a swimming pool' with three inches of stagnant, stinking water.

At one stage she put a carpet down outside to stop water seeping under the house.

She walks around the house with a mop bucket full of disinfectant and regularly shampoos her carpet.

OOZE: A close-up showing the swamp at the garden in Green Lane, Worcester (Image: Jane Bamford)

But she is increasingly worried about her two dogs trailing the foul mould into her bed as the pair sometimes want to sleep in her bedroom.

Her main concern is the health of five-year-old German Shepherd, Wilf, and 13-year-old Gladys, a Cairn cross with a Jack Russell.

Both have had symptoms including violent bouts of vomiting, loss of appetite and scabby paws which she attributes to the festering pool of black muck in her garden.

When they venture out of her garden she said her beloved dogs sometimes look like 'the creatures from the Black Lagoon', caked from head to foot in the smelly ooze.

FOUL: The garden in Green Lane is sodden and is making her dogs sick, says Jane Bamford (Image: Supplied)

She has taken the dogs to her vets three times after they started getting sick six weeks ago, costing her £124 so far in bills.

Ms Bamford is worried if nothing is done, they will get sicker and the vet's bills will spiral.

"It's a claggy black substance with a chemical sheen to it. It's this black mud. I thought I had struck oil at first. That black stuff is mould, not soil.

"I'm worried the dogs will die from exposure to the water. I'm devastated. All I want to do is live in my house and enjoy my garden," she said.

The stress follows a meter mix-up with E.ON where customers in the bungalows, including Ms Bamford, ended up paying each other's bills. 

Darren Harrison, service manager at Platform Housing Group, said of the garden issues: "We are sorry to hear of our customer's issues with her garden. 

"We have been in touch with the developer who visited Ms Bamford's home earlier in the week to undertake a site survey. 

"The developer will be taking action to rectify the issue."