The doors of Eton College stayed shut today as the delayed to its school term continued as toilets in its boarding houses remained backed up due to recent floods.
Tankers spirited to the area by worried Thames Water chiefs could be seen today trying to solve the embarrassing problem.
The enormous machines and their enormous blue pipes have been at work around the clock to tackle the massive load clogging up the sewers.
Things were so bad sirs at the posh school had to tell parents to keep their children away amid fears of the damage the over 1,000 boys could add to the systems.
A massive tanker could be seen at Eton attending to unblock the reeking sewers beneath them
The college has been forced to delay the return to the buildings of some 1.350 boys this week
Frozen floodwater in Barnes Pool next to Eton College shows that the cold is also a problem
A desperate message read: ‘I am very sorry to say that Thames Water have just alerted us to the fact that their sewerage drains are back filling due to flood water,’ the note said.
‘The sewers in the centre of Eton won’t cope with the arrival of nearly 1,350 boys,’ it added.
Yesterday was supposed to be the start of lessons but they have had to be run remotely over the internet instead, Bloomberg revealed.
One parent told The Mail: ‘The children are delighted. They’re joking about how the school’s been shut down.
Another added: ‘Etonians have always been very derogatory about their arch rivals – Harrow – even nicknaming it the “dump on the hump” because it’s located at Harrow On The Hill.
‘That’s sort of backfired now – better there than on a floodplain.’
Eton, near Windsor, is one of the most famous schools in the UK.
Tankers spirited to the area by worried Thames Water chiefs could be seen today trying to solve the embarrassing problem
Frozen floodwater on the Eton College football pitches after flooding and then cold conditions
It charges fees of about £50,000 a year per pupil and Princes William and Harry, as well as current Foreign Secretary David Cameron attended.
‘We cannot safely operate as a school until Thames Water have resolved the issues around our sewerage drains,’ the email seen by continues.
Thames Water updated its website with a notice on Jan. 8 that ‘the heavy rainfall of recent weeks and a high water table have put huge pressure on our sewers and pumping stations.’
Thames has been at the center of a crisis engulfing the industry as calls from the public and politicians to stop releasing sewage into waterways coincided with soaring debt costs. Parts of England experience some of the worst flooding in years last week, with hundreds of flood warnings including for the Severn and Thames rivers.
Eton said it is in regular contact with Thames Water as the company tries to resolve the situation and it hopes to welcome students back soon.
A Thames Water representative said its engineers are looking into sewerage issues at Eton College and apologized to staff and students. Heavy rainfall and river flooding overloaded the local sewer, they added.