Hairdresser Laura Monk says months of raw sewage seeping into her salon from a collapsed pipe has theatened to shut down her business.

The 28-year-old said the leaking sewage has been so bad she has to turn customers away half-done and cancel appointments.

The stink has cost her between £500 and £1,000 a week in lost business, and the lack of money means she might even have to call off her wedding next year.

Yorkshire Water plans to start repairing the sewer tomorrow but Miss Monk said it had taken too long to reach this stage.

She said: “I’m continually having to mop the mess up – it was five times the other day. It’s disgusting. It’s coming up over the toilet and into the salon. It’s foul – mould is starting to grow on things.

“I’ve tried contacting Yorkshire Water about it but it’s like banging my head against a brick wall.”

Miss Monk said she had also been in touch with Councillor Andrew Pinnock (Lib Dem, Cleckheaton) and her MP Mike Wood (Lab, Batley and Spen).

“There’s been problems for the past ten years with the sewage pipe but it’s got horrendous since March – my landlord’s been trying to get Yorkshire Water to fix it as well but he’s being ignored too. Everyone just passes the buck. We don’t know what else we can do,” she said.

Miss Monk said although her Colours UK salon was in a row of properties along Bradford Road in Cleckheaton, she believed only her property was affected because it was the first to be connected to the faulty pipe that runs from under the main road.

“Yorkshire Water was finally supposed to do the repairs last weekend but it didn’t get a permit to dig up the road. Now they’re saying it’ll be this weekend but I’ll believe it when I see it.”

Coun Pinnock confirmed that a Council permit for works was now in place starting tomorrow, until Sunday.

A Kirklees Council spokesman said a number of complaints had been made in the past about sewage entering properties and they had been passed to Yorkshire Water to deal with.

A Yorkshire Water spokesman said it was working hard to sort out the problem, and added yesterday: “We do know that there is an issue with a collapsed section of local sewer which is being repaired this Friday – this has taken a lot of planning as it involves digging up a section of the busy Bradford Road, something we would never undertake without careful consideration.

“We’ve also sent teams to support Miss Monk with any clean-ups and we continue to liaise very closely with her as we progress with our investigation.”