Water bosses have apologised to residents whose bank holiday was ruined by a burst sewage main.

People living in the West Way area of Lancing spent four days living with stinking slime covering their cars and gardens.

Their ordeal started on Thursday and continued over the Easter weekend.

A burst main left parts of West Way under inches of contaminated water as Southern Water engineers worked to repair the leak.

The hours they could work was restricted by high tides affecting water table levels in the area.

Southern Water said the repairs were completed at midnight on Saturday and a clean-up operation was started.

But Alison Savage said she and residents in neighbouring streets were still waiting for the sewage slurry to be cleared from outside their homes.

Miss Savage, 34, has lived all her life with her 79-year-old mother Dorothy in adjoining George V Avenue, Lancing.

She said sewage had spread into the street and still had not been cleared by yesterday. (mon) She added: “Southern Water seemed to be oblivious about how far the problem has extended.

“Although the flooding has now gone down there is still sewage all over the place.

“It is on the pavements, in our gardens and has been sprayed onto cars by passing vehicles.

“I was assured on Saturday by one of Southern Water's engineers working in West Way that it would be cleared up as a matter of urgency.

“There were no signs of anything being done by Monday morning. It is appalling that something so basic should have been left so long.”

Miss Savage added that Southern Water staff on site had told residents there were problems getting their clean-up trucks down some of the narrow roads because of parked vehicles.

Councillor Tony Nicklen, who represents Adur District Council's Widewater ward, said: “There have been great efforts in the past to try to get sewage pipes in the area improved.

“There have been bad smells coming from the drains there for some time.

“That suggests to me that there may have been a long-standing problem rather than a sudden burst.”

A Southern Water spokeswoman said: “The problem was with a rising main carrying waste water from residents' homes to a pumping station.

“The repairs were completed at midnight on Saturday and we are now working to clear up what was left behind.

“The sewage was pretty dilute and with all the rain we have had in the last few days the risk to health would be pretty low.

“We would like to apologise to our customers and to residents in the area who have been affected.”