Woman horrified by sewage after swimming in Bexhill sea

Tracy Hudson said she went for a dip at Bexhill beach with her partner when she realised she was swimming in sewage.

The 43-year-old, who lives five minutes from the beach, had arranged to meet some friends to “cool off” with their dogs in the hot weather. 

Tracy, who works at Conquest Hospital in St Leonards, told The Argus: “As we got there, it was low tide and as we were walking down it was completely packed. 

“We went down on the disabled ramp and waited for our friends to come, we saw some poo floating around and assumed a child had had an accident so we walked back a bit. 

“I said ‘it does smell quite sewagey’ and my partner said it was likely seaweed.

“Our friends then turned up and I said ‘I’m not going in this bit because there’s poo floating around’ and they said ‘yeah we saw that last night when we came down’. 

“We thought it was strange but didn’t think much of it.”

Tracy Hudson on Bexhill beach

The group walked on to the Galley Hill area of the beach and saw what they thought was mud. 

Tracy said: “It was really thick, slimy, smelly, disgusting mud, so we carried on to try to get past it. 

“Eventually we went into the water, which was itself quite dark, and it sounded a bit gloopy. 

“We went in with the dogs, who weren’t overly enthused about going in which was odd. 

“Anyway, so we splashed around for about ten minutes and I thought actually this doesn't even feel right - it felt a bit slimy. 

“At that point I kind of stood up, I was up to maybe my waist, then I realised that actually all around us was poo. I was like ‘oh my god’.

“The dogs started to get all excited and as we were trying to get out, the dog splashed me all over and it landed all in my mouth and up my nose.”

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Tracy rushed home to shower and later that night she began to feel ill.

She said: “I just felt really chesty and wheezy, I had a bit of a temperature and had a really rough night. 

“On Tuesday when I went to work and had full PPE on, I really couldn't breathe.

“I had a doctor's appointment and was put on antibiotics, steroids, and an inhaler. They said I’d picked up a respiratory infection.” 

Tracy said she went into the sea on Sunday, August 14.

Bexhill beach on August 17. Photo: BEMatters/Twitter

Three days later, both Bexhill and Normans Bay were closed due to "significant" electrical problems at the Galley Hill pumping station which led to huge amounts of untreated sewage being pumped into the sea.

Yesterday Southern Water told The Argus that it had no record of sewage releases on August 14.

After also suffering with an upset stomach, Tracy returned to the doctors earlier this week as the infection has not cleared up.

She has now been sent for an X-ray and is waiting for the results. 

“I honestly believe this is a direct result of being in the water and I am not happy,” she said. 

“This is not funny. We live in a coastal town, we should be able to go in the water, I shouldn’t have to swim in what goes down the toilet.” 

Tracy says she will be writing to Southern Water as she “wants an apology”. 

A Southern Water spokesman said: "“We’re sorry to hear about this lady’s illness and would be happy to talk to her if she would like to get in touch.

"We're not aware of any releases in the Bexhill area between the end of June and mid August.”