The toilet that saved Christmas for flood-hit Norfolk couple

After being unable to use the toilet in their home for the last two months, Christmas has come early for one couple in flood-hit Hickling after they woke up to a portable loo in their garden rather than presents under the tree this year.

Flood-hit Staithe Road residents Steve and Susan Adkins with their neighbours William and Deanna Wells and their new portable toilet (Image: Sonya Duncan)

The ‘Hickling hotstep’ has become part of locals’ daily routines since Storm Babet raised water levels in October on the Norfolk Broads - with villagers having to dash to nearby public toilets whenever they need to answer a call of nature.

READ MORE: Bursting on the Broads! Villagers forced by floods to use public loos for TWO MONTHS

It has affected around a dozen households in Staithe Road, but none more so than couple William and Deanna Wells - who haven’t been able to use their toilet, wash, or do their laundry at home for 55 days.

Instead, they’ve had to make regular trips to a council-owned public toilet block at the nearby Pleasure Boat Inn pub, take showers at a North Walsham swimming pool, and drive 11 miles to a laundrette in Wroxham.

Steve Moir from Toilets delivering the portable toilet to the home of William and Deanna Wells in Staithe Road, Hickling (Image: Sonya Duncan)

“If somebody had told me that the best Christmas present I’d receive this year would be a portable toilet I wouldn’t have believed them,” Mr Wells, 74, said.

“It’s a godsend. We’ve got family coming over for Christmas and there’s going to be seven of us.

“It means we won’t have to cancel Christmas this year.”

Villagers haven’t been able to use their toilets because of recent flooding caused by heavy downpours, coupled with high tides meaning Hickling Broad is taking longer to drain.

READ MORE: Flood alerts in place in Norfolk as heavy rain continues

From left to right: Staithe Road residents Steve Adkins, Deanna Wells, Susan Adkins and William Wells (Image: Sonya Duncan)

“It’s not been easy or pleasant,” Mrs Wells, 72, said.

“We would walk down to the public toilets in the day when it’s not raining, but we’d drive down there early in the morning or at night because it’s dark.

“There’s no streetlights, and there are potholes and puddles. It’s not what I want to be doing in my mid-70s - walking down a dark, unlit, wet road in the middle of the night.”

They'll now be stepping into their new toilet this Christmas - provided by Toilets+ and North Norfolk District Council.