Eton College

Eton College has told its 1,350 to stay at home pupils at the start of term because the lavatories have backed up following flooding, Yahoo has reported.

Thames Water has warned that sewers in the centre of the Berkshire town won’t have the capacity to cope if the boys return, so school has switched to remote learning until the issue is resolved.

A spokesperson for Eton College said: “Following extensive flooding in the region, the Thames Water sewers which serve the town of Eton, flooded.

“Therefore, boys could not return for the scheduled start of term on January 9 and the college has moved to remote teaching.

“We are in regular contact with Thames Water as they seek to resolve the situation and we look forward to welcoming boys back as soon as possible.”

A Thames Water spokesperson said: “Our engineers are responding to reported sewerage issues at Eton College, Windsor.

“In this instance, the recent heavy rainfall, along with high groundwater levels and river flooding, caused our local sewer system to overload.”

“Our teams will be carrying out a clean-up in the coming days once the river levels recede.”