A PENHILL man says he spent almost two days with the unbearable stench of faeces in his bathroom after a botched plumbing job by the council.

On Sunday evening, Shaun Power, 35, called the council after his toilet became blocked and wouldn’t flush.

According to Shaun, workmen were at the Allington Road house for most of the night trying to fix the blockage.

When they left, he says, the blockage hadn’t been cleared and his bathroom had been left in a terrible state.

The toilet had been broken and cracked and, though still just about useable, emitted a strong smell of excrement.

He says the council had promised to send a plumber to fix it on Monday, but when the workman arrived, he saw it would be a long job and offered instead to come back the following morning. But, much to Shaun’s distress, nobody turned up.

And, according to Shaun, when he contacted the council he was told that they had no record of the appointment.

“The toilet is not secured to the floor, all the pipe work is exposed and leaking, the bath panels have been ripped and broken and it reeks of faeces,” said an angry Shaun yesterday. “It’s not safe.”

To make matters worse, the father of a seven-year-old boy suffers from back problems and has recently undergone surgery.

“I’ve recently had two operations and the bathroom is simply not safe for me to use it. I have a young son and it’s not safe for him either.

“You pay your rent and you expect things like this to be done on time. I’m worried that they might keep putting it off and it could be a few more days or even a week when it’s fixed.

“It’s certainly not what you would call appropriate living conditions.”

But as the Adver went to press last night there was a partial light at the end of the tunnel for Shaun and his family when the sent a plumber out to take a look.

A Swindon Borough Council spokesman said: “We were initially alerted to a blockage in our tenant’s toilet on Sunday.

“We visited his home on a couple of occasions to install a temporary fix, and a new pan, toilet and flooring were installed this afternoon.”

Workmen will still have to return today to finish the job, but Shaun was relieved to see something was being done.

He said: “I’m very pleased that it is finally being fixed, barring a few last little bits, though I don’t know why it has taken so long.

“They know I’ve had back surgery and I’m on crutches and have a son with anxiety, so I think they should have acted sooner.

“I hope we don’t have any more problems like this.”