Woman makes claim after back injury
A woman has launched a legal battle for compensation after suffering a debilitating back personal injury and a series of infections, which she says was due to water and sewage leaks beneath her home.
The 52-year-old suffered a series of floods and a potentially dangerous gas leak in her home in Warley Road in Woodford Green in the summer of 2006, before falling and badly injuring her arm and back on July 4 of that year.
She fell on a patch of slippery algae that had accumulated on her drive as a result of the flood water.
She later learned that a nearby sewage pipe was leaking, and the resultant build-up of pressure had caused cracks in both the water and gas mains serving her home.
The leak meant that sewage had begun to accumulate in a cavity in the ground underneath her property, which she said was responsible for her illness.
As well as this, the gas that was escaping the pipe could have potentially caused a serious explosion.
The claimant, who has been unable to continue her job at a legal property firm since November, is taking action against the water firm in a High Court legal battle.
She hopes to claim public liability compensation for her multiple injuries, illness and for the damage to her home.
She said: “I’m now living in rented accommodation because my house is being worked on to repair it from all the damage that happened during the floods.”
Updated on 19/05/2010