A Downham mum desperate for a good night's sleep claims she has been forced out of her home by noisy manhole covers clanging outside her bedroom window.

Victoria Busuttil, 36, has been sleeping on her sister’s sofa in Mottingham since a “botched” job on manholes on Downham Way started to cause a racket when cars drove over them.

“I’m not a professional but I don’t think the covers have been fitted properly. They look like they're dipping inwards and as the vehicles go over it they're becoming concave.

“At some point or another it will just break.”

The mum of one who has lived on Downham way for 17 years has been calling Thames Water about the problem since the beginning of September to report the problem but claims nothing has been done.

“I’ve called them at least 20 times because I can’t sleep.

“It’s very loud bangs, it’s literally like clanging metal. It’s extremely loud, like someone’s clanging metal.

“It’s so loud and sudden – almost like bullets firing. It wakes me up with a jump in the night and all through the morning.”

Victoria, who works as an admin assistant, even checked into a Premier Inn for a few nights when the noise became unbearable.

Since then, she has been sleeping at her sister’s house to get away from the constant clanging.

“I work 300 metres from where I live, but now I’m staying at other people’s houses I’m having to pay more for my commute.”

Victoria also described the affects the constant noise was beginning to have on her health.

“I had to have quite a few days off work with migraines from not sleeping,” she described.

A Thames Water spokesman said: "We're really sorry one of our customers has been inconvenienced like this.

"We will be sending out a team of engineers to investigate the problem and hope to resolve any issues as soon as possible."