Family deliver gift-wrapped turds to council after flooding hell

By Megan Geall

A family are taking action against their local authority after their home was flooded by sewage three times in a year.

Tola Anozie, 30, and community union ACORN, have begun delivering a gift-wrapped fake turd to Lambeth council in their ‘12 days of turdmas’ stunt.

“I have had to work in sewage, unable to breathe because our house was smelling like a tip,” said Mr Anozie, who is still awaiting £3,200 in compensation, a year on from the first flood.

“They are treating us as if we don’t exist.”

The floods, at the home on the Central Hill Estate in Gipsy Hill, caused irreparable damage to their carpets, clothes, and belongings, while also leaving Mr Anozie’s 65-year-old mother to sleep on the living room sofa as her room contained raw sewage.

Since taking on the case, ACORN has complained to the director of housing, attended council meetings and picketed outside the council.

Now, ACORN is piling on the pressure with fake turds made from painted, baked salt dough to gain more social media attention around the case.

“Because it’s Christmas – and at Christmas you tell the truth – we thought now was the time to let the people, who are responsible for Lambeth’s council housing, know how it feels to have poo coming into your personal space,” said Leo Hargreaves, ACOR representative, adding that one aim of the stunt is to make councillors “feel the disappointment and anger that Tola and his mum feel”.

So far, the turd parcels have only received one response from a member of the council.

A spokesman from Lambeth council said: “We tackled the problem at this flat, and the wider problems with the drains at the estate, as a matter of urgency, earlier this year.”

The council also stated that the family had been provided with details of how to lodge a compensation claim but the council had yet to receive one.

In response to this, Mr Hargreaves said: “Tola’s home was flooded on multiple separate occasions over an eight-month period before the council sought to address the root cause.

“The family have filled out the official compensation form and await communication from the council.”

Pictured top: Tola Anozie (Picture: ACORN)