A fed-up dad launched an inflatable onto a giant puddle near his house in a bid to try and 'shame' council bosses into fixing the flooding.
Father-of-five Jayme Loftus, 40, has lived in Brinnington in Stockport since he was a child. And he says the section near the railway bridge on Lingard Lane, one of the major routes into the area, has "for years" been left underwater following heavy rain.
A huge puddle has again formed following torrential downpours starting last Wednesday. Jayme says pavements were left soaked meaning pedestrians had to get their feet wet whilst motorists had to run the risk of passing through a deep pool of water sending huge amounts of spray into the air.
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On Saturday evening returning from watching his beloved Stockport County away at Bradford City, and navigating the flooding in his van, window cleaner Jayme went home and grabbed an inflatable he usually takes on holiday with him and inflated it.
He then threw it onto the puddle, jumped on it and got his wife to take a snap of him as he floated along with his arms and legs in the air.
"It's been going on for years and it's become a bit of a running joke," he said. "Every time it rains you can bet your last five it will flood. It's one of the few ways to get in and out of Brinny, the others mean you going out of your way.
"On Saturday it was really bad and had been for a few days," he said. "I have a van so I was alright but loads of cars were struggling and people trying to walk past were getting their feet soaked.
"They were waiting for cars to make a bit of a tidal wave and running through but it wasn't working. I just thought 'this is ridiculous.'
"Whenever it floods and people warn each other about it in the What's On in Brinnington Facebook group, people mock pictures of them fishing in it and stuff like that. So I decided to have a bit of fun and prove just how deep it is by floating around on it.
Jayme posted a picture of his lilo stunt with the caption: "Not sure about our new pool.. bit cold and no lifeguards." It so far been like nearly 1,000 times. His mum was one of the almost 200 people to reply saying: "Son what have I told you about not wearing your armband when playing in water."
Others said their cars had been damaged whilst several complained of being drenched by the spray from vehicles passing through.
"I was trying to shame the council really into doing something about it. We need some gully drains or at least some pallets or something for people to walk over when it's bad like this. It was coming up to my knees at its deepest point.
"It's that deep it must be going into people's cars," Jayme said. "Then you've got people who work on the industrial estate walking to work and having to go in wet shoes and socks. It's not right. And it's been like this since forever."
There remained a huge puddle when the Manchester Evening News visited on Monday morning. A sign warning motorists of flooding was in place but the road wasn't closed.
A Stockport Council spokesperson said: “We are very concerned about the flooding and we are going to investigate, and take action to remedy the situation, as soon as possible.
"Following a period of recent heavy rainfall, we expect the surface water to drain in the next 24 hours but if not we will look to pump the water out, so that we can investigate what has happened.”
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