A DISABLED teenager could take Severn Trent to court after learning his family Christmas has been devastated by sewage problems.
Cerebral palsy sufferer Daniel Nutt found his home near Worcester was uninhabitable when he returned yesterday.
The 18-year-old is now having to spend the festive break from his Cheltenham school at his grandparents' house.
His distraught mother, Wendy, brought villagers' problems to the attention of Sir Michael Spicer, when the West Worcestershire MP visited Callow End yesterday to see how people were struggling to cope with sewage flooding into Beauchamp Lane and nearby gardens.
"Severn Trent has ruined our Christmas," said Mrs Nutt, who has had to leave the family's specially-adapted bungalow. "I can't sue because it'll take too long and cost too much, but Daniel might be able to do something.
"We're talking about it, but he could take legal action against Severn Trent himself. When he came home he felt for us, because of what we'd been through. We've tried to keep things back from him, but everything's been ruined.
"We can't live in our home because Daniel's severely physically disabled and needs to have proper care. We can't use our toilet or washing machine while this problem continues. I feel so angry that I want to stop up the chambers in the system with cement to stop any more sewage coming out. I don't care if I go to prison."
Furnace engineer Maurice Round has been pleading with Severn Trent to solve the sewage problem for years.
Under its present plans, the firm will not consider a permanent solution until after 2005, when its £165m investment programme finishes.
He said that houses were constantly plagued by sewage which should be processed at a nearby treatment plant. Instead, it seeps up through drains into ditches and gardens - even when there are no floods.
"I don't think the health problem has been considered properly," said the 64-year-old, of Beauchamp Lane. "When all this water has gone, and the residue's left in gardens, what will we be breeding?"
Sir Michael Spicer dubbed the situation "unacceptable".
"I'd be distraught too if I was them," he said.
He was due to speak to Severn Trent's chief executive this weekend and is calling for a better pumping station to serve the area.
A Severn Trent spokesman said, while the company "sympathised" with residents, it was waiting for river levels to drop before being able to investigate the system.
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