A disabled Scot was left living in 'toxic waste' after human faeces came flooding out his bathroom. Stephen McDonald told how the thick, brown sludge poured out of the toilet, sink and bath in his Glasgow home for more than an hour on Wednesday night.
The 62-year-old raised the alarm with a worker who was clearing drains nearby, but was told to call Maryhill Housing Association - who allegedly sent the same worker back to inspect the issue. But Stephen, who has lived in the flat for 30 years, claims he was left to spend the night inside the contaminated property - without access to a working bathroom.
The former printer, who already struggles with poor health and mobility issues, fears he could get extremely sick from coming into contact with the sewage. He told the Record: "Living amongst toxic waste could make me really, really ill.
"It was absolutely gushing out the toilet and just kept flowing and flowing. It went all over the place.
"There was a guy outside working on the drains so I went out and told him. He came in to look and said to call someone at the housing. He said it was the worst he had seen and I should be given a hotel."
Drainage workers from a firm contracted by the housing association arrived back an hour after Stephen called to hoover up the waste. But Stephen says it had already seeped underneath the floorboards.
He claims the floor has not been sanitised since and that the filth has spread into the hallway right to the front door. Stephen added that a joiner has since been sent out to lift the boards, where they discovered around an inch of human waste on top of the concrete floor.
Despite his dire circumstances, he claims no-one from the housing association arranged for alternative accommodation for him on Wednesday. And it is allegedly not the first time his bathroom has been flooded with waste.
Stephen added: "The same thing happened about four or five years ago.
“My whole bath and sink filled up with excrement. They offered to get me a hotel then but I ended up staying with a friend because they couldn’t get me anything quick enough.
“The drainage guys said it's the whole building's waste because there’s four properties above me. There’s been an issue with people flushing wipes and it keeps building up.
“The excrement only has one way to go and that’s down into my house."
A Maryhill Housing Association spokesperson said: "Maryhill Housing’s contractor attended to this issue on Wednesday night. The blockage was caused by an accumulation of wipes in the drains and our contractor cleared the blockage at the time.
"Our contractor then carried out a full disinfectant clean for all of the areas they could access. At the time our tenant didn’t want our contractor to lift the linoleum in the bathroom but we have now arranged accommodation for our tenant for tonight so that we can lift his flooring and carry out a full disinfectant clean."
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