Desperate Ainsworth Road residents say they have struggled with flooding and mud for more than 20 years with no resolution.

Emma Eeke, who has lived on the road in Park South for 23 years, said flooding has been always been a problem.

The issue came to a head during last week's storm when people were trapped in their homes as water poured into their gardens.

At least five neighbours in the SN3 area are so frustrated with the lack of action they are threatening to stop paying their water bills.

Thames Water has said it looks after sewers but that roadside gullies and drains are Swindon Borough Council's responsibility. But the council does not believe the drains are the problem.

Emma revealed that the water came up to her knees last week. She said: “It’s only the start of autumn. It’s not even the winter yet and the street has already flooded to varying depths ten times since September.

“We have contacted Thames Water and the council and they just blame each other.

“There’s no exit from or entrance into my house which doesn’t suffer so I have to wear my wellies and pick my dog up otherwise the water would come up to his ears.

“It ruins your day. It’s not just the water, it’s the mud too. I don’t live on a farm. That mud is thick and disgusting.

“Years ago, I was out once and didn’t have wellies so I had to take refuge in someone else’s house for six hours because I couldn’t get in. Now, the rain takes four days to clear.”

Emma helped out a neighbour last week whose new wall had only just been installed. Emma and other residents got out their buckets to drain the water and prevent the wall from subsiding.

One woman who has lived on Ainsworth Road for 36 years, said: “We had to help a man in a wheelchair who got stuck. I am at my wits’ end.

“I’ve rung the council but they say it’s not a blocked drain so they can’t do anything and I’ve rung the fire brigade. I don’t know what else to do.”

Another resident Martyn, who has contacted the council about the issue, said: “You go to work with wet feet and you come home and get wet feet.

“I would like to see a councillor come and park their car here in the flood water.

“Back on May 19, I was floating plastic ducks on the water at one point for a laugh because it’s laughable.”

Thames Water told the Adver it plans to send an engineer to check the sewers today but a spokesman said the company has not received any reports of flooding on Ainsworth Road, Carstairs Avenue or Trentham Close in the past two years.

A spokesman added: “Flooding is upsetting and inconvenient, and we sympathise with anyone who’s been affected by it following the heavy rain.

“While we are responsible for sewers, local authorities are responsible for managing surface water and maintaining roadside drains and gullies.

“We are committed to working with all the agencies responsible for drainage to ensure that this growing risk is managed.”

But a council spokesman said: “Local residents alerted us to the flooding last week and we engaged Thames Water to see if we could get to the bottom of the issue.

“We have inspected our drains and do not believe they are the cause of the problem.

“However, we will continue to work with Thames Water to try and locate the blockage so we can ensure the road does not flood in future.”

Thames Water believes a land drain behind Trentham Close is blocked with debris. It said the council plans to clear the blockage and conduct a CCTV survey of the drain but this has not been confirmed by the authority.