A HEREFORD woman was left seriously ill after being exposed to untreated water for six months when pipes were incorrectly fitted in her bathroom.

Angela Calvin, 57, was unwell with campylobacter – a type of food poisoning but with severe symptoms such as nausea and diahorrea – for nine days in March.

It came after work was carried out by B&Q contractors in Mrs Calvin’s shower room in November which, she said, resembled a ‘shambles’.

But a plumber sent out to carry out remedial work in May discovered the stomach-churning fact that water flowing into Mrs Calvin’s hand basin was actually coming from a tank in the loft.

She said: “The plumber found all sorts of mistakes but the one that we believe most important is that the cold water feed to the cold tap in my hand basin had been connected to a water tank in the loft which had previously been used to feed water into a bidet.

“It was connected to that rather than to the mains water. It's untreated water.”

It explained the reason that Mrs Calvin had been ill two months earlier – one of the causes of campylobacter is untreated water.

"Even now my system just hasn't settled down properly,” she said.

"I was exposed to untreated water for six months. The plumber that discovered it came out to do all the work left by an incredibly shoddy tradesman and connected it to the mains water feed which is what should have happened at the beginning.

"I believe the tank in the loft is covered but we know there has been mice up there and one of the tradesman discovered cables that had been nibbled.

"You just don't know what's up there and the oldest part of the house is 11th century."

After writing to B&Q about the poor building work, Mrs Calvin and her husband, Mark, were awarded compensation but the firm said a claim for personal injury would have to be dealt with separately.

Her case is currently being investigated by the firm but she is hoping for further compensation.

A spokesman for B&Q said: "We were sorry to hear of Mrs Calvin’s experience with her bathroom installation.

"As soon as we were aware of the issue, we worked as quickly as we could to resolve matters, and arranged an offer of goodwill.

"We remain in contact with Mrs Calvin about the circumstances of her claim and are unable to comment further at this stage."