Quote Originally Posted by blue matt View Post
Old soak-aways often collapse and you need a new one. so area dug up etc etc, its not cheap

my advice, before the DP goes into the drain, just cut it and fit a shoe, which will just dump the water on the path and it should disperse into the water table

ref the rain water butt above, its a good idea, then on the water but fit at the top 2 " outlets " to connect some hose to, this hose could go either side of the DP and disperse the water over such a larger area, cost, under £60
Old soakaways do not collapse as they are literally holes in the ground filled with stones unlike present day soakaways which tend to be built using purpose built baskets. It is true there can be collapses of the pipes leading to the soakaway but the most likely cause of a blockage is the stones filling up with earth and weeds preventing water from draining through - a problem which can sometimes be resolved through jetting.

Fitting a shoe is a good idea as long as the water drains away from the house. A water butt is not such a good idea as the butt will fill up after a brief shower unless you leave the butt tap open which is no better than the shoe solution mentioned above.