Sorry, this video asset has been removed.

Sewage leak closes Thanet
beaches to surfers

by Jess Banham

A surf school is calling for compensation for firms
affected by a sewage spill which closed beaches.

Clean-up crews have been working round the clock to collect the
debris after a failure at Southern Water's pumping station at
Foreness Point.

But it is thought the beaches may not be re-opened until
Saturday.

Now the Joss Bay Surf School in Broadstairs has been forced to
cancel all its bookings for the rest of the week.

Dave Melmoth (pictured left), who runs the business said:
“Potentially we're going to lose up to £5,000 worth of bookings to
lose this week - plus the public perception, they’re going to
know we’ve got dirty water for a short period of time and that’s
not helpful at all.

“There’s only a short amount of time to make our money and this
is one

big part of our season we’ve had to write off completely.

"If there is no confirmation that this is sorted, this could
potentially happen

throughout the season in which case we could take a massive
hit."

He said the school was going to speak to Southern Water to
see if they could reach an agreement, but he was prepared to take
it further.

An investigation is under way, but it's not yet known how much
sewage

was pumped into the sea.

Paul Kent, asset strategy manager at Southern Water, said “We
would

encourage anyone who has been genuinely affected by the incident
to

contact Southern Water.

"We’ll deal with them on a one-to-one basis, we’d like to
understand their issues and see what we can do to assist.”

Joss Bay Surf School.
Picture: Julie Edwards, Visit Kent

He said the firm was making every effort to understand what
had caused the problem.

He added: "We're determined to manage the situation as
quickly as possible, try and return the bathing water to a good
clean condition and make sure

life can go on as normal."

Thanet District Council took the decision to close the beaches
for

bathing as a precautionary measure over the weekend.

Mike Humber, engineering technical services manager at Thanet,
said:

"Thanet has a large number of award-winning Blue Flag beaches,
that's

something we take very seriously and we want to maintain the
quality

of those beaches."

A machine is being used to clear the sand, while a team of
around 20

people are working in shifts to remove debris.