Thames Water has finally sprung into action after the people of East Molesey endured a month of pong.

Palace Road, East Molesey, was shut last week, while 600m of sewers are cleaned, following pumps in the area being replaced on Thursday, September 11.

A spokesman for Thames Water said: "The stagnant smell was caused by fat building up on the pumps that push wastewater along the sewer pipes.

"Fat, oil and grease cause many problems in our sewers and should never be put down the drain. We're sorry we didn't act faster but we've now replaced the pumps and are cleaning a large section of pipe to make sure the odour disappears."

Contractors for Thames Water had to deal with each section of the blockage, which takes some time and meant the smell would not immediately clear.

Thames Water now plans to inspect the area every six months.

Clare Millard, of Bridge Road, who was severely affected by the smell and attributes the effort put in by residents and business owners to bringing about the solution, said: "The shame of it was that there seemed to be no co-ordination between Thames Water and the contractors they use - in this case, Metro Rod, who I have to say were brilliant - it was Thames Water that thoroughly let us down.

"Although very pleasant on the phone we were all being told different things and it was clearly evident that they were lying to us because I was also in constant contact with the contractors.

"It's taken a good few hours of daily phone calls and emails for the past month to get them to do anything."

Thames Water said it would leaflet the area on its Bin it don't block it campaign, to reinforce the fact that fat, oil and grease should not go down the drains.