Raw sewage flowed through a residential road in Rickmansworth this morning – just yards from a primary school.

Residents and parents in Stockers Farm Road were appalled to by the sights and smells of an array of detritus and human waste running down Stockers Farm Road.

The road is home to a Thames Water pumping station, which passes waste from across the greater London area to the main regional treatment centre at Maple Cross.

It is believed the smaller facility was overwhelmed by the heavy over night rain.

The station has been the focus of repeated floods in the past, resulting in repeated calls for action by angry residents and parents.

Nina Hosking, whose daughter attends nearby St Mary’s School, said: “It’s disgusting. The smell was absolutely horrendous, my daughter was almost sick.

“There was raw sewage running down the road right up to the hedgerows.”

Residents said heavy overnight rain had caused to the flooding.

John Carter, who has lived in the road since 1974, took defensive measures to keep the filth from his home, erecting a make-shift flood barrier.

He said: “It was at its worst at around 3.30am with a good covering for most of the road. Unfortunately it’s nothing new – this often happens when we have heavy rain.”

When the Watford Observer visited the site this morning officials were pumping away the last of the surface water, leaving in its place a thick, slimy sludge.

Three Rivers District Council Leader Ann Shaw said: “It’s completely unacceptable for this to keep happening.

“This has been going on for years without anything really being done about it. The problem is that it [the station] can’t cope with demand.”

Parts of Harefield Road, at the junction with Heron Close, were also flooded.

A Thames Water spokesman Amy Dutton said: "Our sewers and pumping stations are designed to cope with the vast majority of storms but occasionally, as on this occasion, the severity of the storm can overwhelm the system.

"We take all flooding incidents very seriously and understand that this is particularly distressing for our customers.

"Our engineers responded quickly and arranged for tankers to be on site to prevent further flooding.

"The pumping station was manned all day and a thorough clean up of the area will be undertaken.

"We appreciate the inconvenience and distress caused by flooding of this nature and would like to apologise to those residents affected."