Regular visits from tankers make resident's lives intolerable

Residents of Chiswick Road are up in arms over the issue of blocked drains that has blighted their homes over the past months and are now looking to enlist local support in dealing with the problem. 

The drains that service the shops, restaurants and flats on the High Road behind Chiswick Road require increasingly regular visits from tankers owned by Comet (the contractors for Thames Water) to unblock them.  The noise, mess, inconvenience (residents not being able to access their vehicles or get to their houses for hours at a time), and disruption caused by the blockages and tankers has become too much for residents who are demanding that something be done to find and stop the culprits.

The residents regularly experience Comet tankers and vans blocking their drive and pathway for sometimes hours at a time and frequently on a daily basis.  The smell and noise pollution of the tankers and vans a few feet from their windows is intolerable with engines and pumps running for hours and to add insult to injury greasy mess is left behind and smeared on gates, walls, path, drive and garden after Comet fails to clean up properly.

One resident told ChiswickW4.com “As well as inconveniencing the whole road when the tankers block the street the pumping of the drains cause considerable pollution, mess and disturbance especially to us as they have to access one of the drains via the pathway under our house.”

She continued “This is the main drain for the row of shops on the High Road and the Comet men use our drive, pathway and gate to access this area. They do so without even telling us they are coming and offer no consideration that they are on our property.”  

After an intolerable few weeks during June, July and August when the tankers came on an almost daily basis, part of a drain pipe was replaced by Thames Water which residents believed would resolve the problem. However, two weeks ago, the problem started again.

Residents are now embarking on a campaign to find the shops responsible for blocking the drains since the problem has escalated leading to the belief that some restaurants or residences are putting large amounts of fat and waste down their drains without filters. 

The Singapore Garden which is situated on this stretch of the High Road has assured residents that they do not dispose of any fat into the drains and, as the drain problem impacts them most and they have a weekly collection of waste fat, residents are inclined to believe that they are not the culprits.

“We have already made many complaints to Environmental Health, Thames Water and Comet, without a satisfactory conclusion.”

October 19, 2006