Wet wipes costing utility companies millions of pounds a year in blockages

WATCH: ITV Anglia's Matthew Hudson went along to see engineers unblock a pipe in Kempston, Bedfordshire

Millions of pounds are being spent unblocking sewers as a result of 'unflushable' items being flushed down the drain.

Anglian Water says it costs them £19m every year to clear blockages, 80% of wish are caused by items which should be binned.

'Unflushables' are things like wet wipes, sanitary products, fats, oils and grease.

They form themselves into giant clumps which block pipes.

Anglian Water's Top 10 sewer blockages:

• Ipswich Yorkshire puddings (Suffolk)

• Louth garden sewer flooding (Lincolnshire)

• Peterborough sewer blockage from frozen chips (Cambridgeshire)

• Lowestoft wet wipes monster (Suffolk)

• Cambridge Sewer Sausage (Cambridgeshire)

• Market Harborough fatberg (Leicestershire)

• Offord D'arcy blockage (Huntingdonshire)

• Houghton Regis blockage (Bedfordshire)

• Hockliffe blockage (Bedfordshire)

• Northampton Sewer wet well blockage (Northamptonshire)

On Thursday, 24 October engineers spent the day unblocking a wet well in Kempston, Bedfordshire.

So far this year 254 blockages have been cleared in the county, with 52 in Kempston alone.