Furious residents say sewage tankers are “ruining” their quality of life by heading to a nearby treatment works “at all hours of the day and night”.

The Southern Water vehicles travel along St Leonards Road in Hythe - a residential street not far from the beach - to access Range Road Wastewater Pumping Station.

The lorries have been seen consistently since January as drivers take wastewater from nearby Elham and occasionally Newington to the treatment works.

Southern Water says the site is being used as heavy rain over the winter “has put significant pressure on its network”.

But John Skinner, who lives in St Leonards Road, says the issue is now becoming a “public nuisance”.

He said: “For months now, sewage tankers have been thundering up and down our road, going to and from Range Road sewage works, not only during the daytime but also at night; it's 24/7.

“Some of the times I’ve recorded are 21.52, 23.35, 01.45, 02.15, 03.15, 04.25, 05.35, 05.45, 06.10, 06.25, 06.30, 06.35, 06.40, and so on.

“This problem is unprecedented. Evenings and nighttimes in St Leonards Road have always been a peaceful respite from the business of daytime hours, but not now.

“It’s interfering with the quality of life we should be able to expect in our own homes.”

Southern Water says the tankers are required to prevent strains on its system due to recent heavy rainfall, which has increased the levels of surface and groundwater to a high level.

But Graham Morgan, who has lived in St Leonards Road for 50 years, says the noise coming from the trucks is unacceptable.

The 73-year-old said: “Some go extremely fast throughout the night, and I’m not exaggerating. It physically shakes the house depending on what speed they go down the road.

“I appreciate that they have things to do, but it's continuous and wakes you up at night.

“Where the lorries are continuously going down the road, a rut is forming, and the potholes are becoming worse. It’s a real knock-on effect.

“We just have to put up with it. I can’t see what else we can do unless it’s stopped, but that won’t happen overnight,” he said.

Fellow resident Alex Johnson agreed, and raised fears over queues in the area later in the year.

“These tankers now being 24/7 are going to have a big impact on the road, and if they’re going to carry on through the summer, it’s going to be even worse — the congestion they’ll cause will be chaos,” he said.

“I don’t see why, on a normal road like this, we have wagons of that size travelling up and down 24 hours a day. It’s an inconvenience, and I don’t see why it should be put on us.”

Southern Water has not provided an end date for the work, and with it already being three months since tankers started using St Leonards Road, some residents are fearing the worst.

Ken Stewart, who has lived in Hythe for 12 years, has been trying to find out more details about the situation.

Mr Stewart said: “We can’t find any information about what’s going on if they could put something on their website to say what was happening or how long it would be, that would do a lot to ease the situation.

“I saw something similar in Brighton with a broken pipe. They tanked the fluid out for two years.

“It’s quite scary and makes you fear the worst.”

Southern Water has previously looked into alternatives to Range Road, but no suitable locations have been found to deal with the issue.

In a statement, a spokesperson said: “Due to one of the wettest winters on record, the ground in this area has become saturated, with groundwater reaching extremely high levels.

“This has put significant pressure on our network, but we are making every effort to protect customers' homes and the environment through this exceptionally challenging period.

“Since January, our teams have had to use tankers in Range Road, where there is a pumping station, to protect the nearby Hythe Treatment Works from being overwhelmed.

“We’re sorry for the disruption this is causing while groundwater levels fall. We would like to thank the local community for its patience.”