Tankers in Shefford have been pumping out sewage for weeks

Brown said tankers had been in the area for weeks, and had originally been outside her home, blocking her drive.

She said that “half of Shefford must have smelt it as they are out on the front road and you have to walk past [the tanker] with the sewer open and them pumping it out into the tanker”.

She added: “You have to cover your nose when you walk past it as it is so pungent.”

Her husband, Tony, a Central Bedfordshire Council Conservative member for Shefford, said he had called Anglian Water about four weeks ago and was told a pipe had collapsed.

He said that when he asked how long the situation would last, he was told Anglian Water did not know and “it was still being worked on”.