A RESIDENT of Dalhanna Drive in New Cumnock will remember Christmas Day for all the wrong reasons.

Graham Tomlinson’s plans ended in disarray after an eruption of raw sewage in his front garden.

This was bad enough, but Mr Tomlinson has told the Chronicle he had been warning of such an incident as it had happened before - but the cause had not been put right.

He said this week: “A house two doors up had contractors clearing the drains when sewage burst out one foot in the air in my garden.

“There was a similar problem a few years ago and the council installed a concrete inspection pit with a metal cover.

“But that was where the sewage came from on Christmas Day. The metal cover was dislodged by the force of the waste.

“The pit is of poor quality and the drainage system needs replaced.”

Mr Tomlinson was unhappy at the lack of emergency cover available through East Ayrshire Council over the holiday period, as well as the ongoing issue with the pit.

A spokesman for Scottish Water said: “We did attend and we informed the customer that he should contact the council to ask them to come back out to complete the clean-up and fix a cover.”

This advice was taken by a furious Mr Tomlinson, but there were still underlying issues to be dealt with after the contractor had gone.

“Two buckets of garden chips were taken away to be cleaned and the remaining ones were sprayed but there are still traces of the waste on them.

“So I had partially contaminated chippings and a contaminated pathway and garden. It looked okay but was still affected for days afterwards,” he added.

Katie Kelly, East Ayrshire Council’s Head of Housing and Communities said: “We totally sympathise with Mr Tomlinson as this is an unpleasant situation and we’re sorry he has had this experience.

“Our plumber came out on Christmas Day to try and unblock his toilet “And, when it was apparent this was a bigger problem, we asked contractors to pressure-wash the nearby sewerage inspection pit the same day, which succeeded.

“The washing did result in spillage to Mr Tomlinson’s garden and we did our best to clear this immediately, with follow up visits on January 4 and 6 to make sure the area was completely cleaned and disinfected to Mr Tomlinson’s satisfaction.

“We also examined the inspection pit and consider it is fit for purpose.”