An elderly man has slammed Yorkshire Water after having to deal with sewage flooding his cellar for nearly a year.

Martin Hughes, 68, who lives in Hope House, an old stone cottage in Westgate, Cleckheaton, described his house as “smelling of s**t” every time he wanders downstairs in a morning.

The issue began on October 27 last year and he had Yorkshire Water out the next day.

Mr Hughes said: “There’s always been four inches of water below the floor level.

“But, there was 22 inches in the cellar when they came round. It had risen.”

The water had always been crystal clear beforehand and was never an issue for Mr Hughes.

He even described it as being drinkable, coming directly from the water table.

But, the new fluid that started to seep out and rise in volume was black and pungent.

Mr Hughes said: “They did a test and said it’s kind of borderline.

“The Environment Agency then came out and did a test and said it’s sewage.

“It’s got to be sewage, it can’t be anything else and, if it isn’t sewage, then it’s vile water.

“Obviously it’s diluted because it’s coming through the water table, but it still smells in my house and it’s still black.

“The whole house just smells like s**t when you come down.”

The initial issue began almost a year ago, yet still Yorkshire Water has not managed to solve or give a reason as to why this is happening.

Mr Hughes feels he is being passed from pillar to post with little progress.

He said: “Yorkshire Water have made a hundred visits and they’ve still not found a problem.

“One engineer comes out, they do dye testing, then someone else comes out again, and they dye test just in case.

“They’ve dye tested, they’ve put cameras down the drains.

“I rang on Wednesday morning, because I’ve been told to ring up for someone specific now.

“It turns out they don’t work Wednesdays.”

Since the issue began, Mr Hughes has had to install preventive measures to ensure the sewage water does not rise to 22 inches again.

He said: “I invested in a pump and pipework. I’ve had to make holes in my walls to get the pipe through.

“The pump is running all the time. It pumps every 10 minutes, some days it’s every half-an-hour before the water starts coming.

“I daren’t turn it off in case it fills up again.”

Mr Hughes has recently been diagnosed with leukaemia and he is worried about the potential impact of the sewage water for a weakened immune system.

He said: “At the moment, I have no issues and it’s not affecting me, but at some stage I’m going to need treatment and my immune system will be down.

“This airborne smell, why shouldn’t it affect me then?

“My concern is, this could end up killing me off.

“It could finish me off, but nobody seems to care.”

Yorkshire Water last came out around two weeks ago, according to Mr Hughes.

He said: “The guy just wandered up and down and did another dye test, just to double check.

“He said they’ll have a meeting and see what the next step is, but the next step never happens.”

Mr Hughes is now at a loose end as to what to do.

He said: “I haven’t got a clue what I can do, what do you do?

“They said it could be a private sewer, but it’s not a private sewer.

“They were going to do a dig of the road and the sewage but said it would be too expensive.

“Well, they’ve already spent thousands doing these tests.

“There’s something there they’ve not found and it’s up to them to find it.

“I’ve been pumping it into the drain, and I was told I shouldn’t be doing that.

“I said ‘what do you want me to do, dig up the main road and use the sewers?’ and he said ‘oh yes, you’re right actually.’”

A Yorkshire Water spokesperson said: “We certainly understand Mr Hughes’ frustration and apologise to him.

“We are continuing to work hard to find the source of the issue.

“We have been out to his property a number of times and will visit him again next week.”