WESSEX Water want people to stay 'blockage free' this Christmas after a selection of children's toys were fished out from the company's water recycling centre.

In the lead up to Christmas, staff at the Weymouth water recycling centre have had to recover a number of children's toys from the pipes, including peppa pig miniature figures from the iconic children's TV show, other figurines and a plastic spade that managed to make it way around all of the bends in the pipes.

But the company has recognised that flushing items down the toilet can lead to serious problems such as blockages and sewage flooding inside people's homes.

Wessex Water’s Sean Smith, whose team found the toys, said: “These toys have had an incredible journey from the toilet to our treatment works, via a network of pumps and screens.

“We had to chuckle when we found them, although there is a serious message here that items flushed down the toilet can cause blockages and even sewage flooding inside people’s homes.

“We reckon Daddy Pig is a bit of an expert at only flushing the three Ps down the toilet - paper, poo and pee – to stay blockage free.”

The water company clears around 13,000 blockages from public sewers on its network every year, with thousands more occurring on private drains.

The majority of these are caused by people wrongly flushing wet wipes and other plastic bathroom products, or pouring leftover cooking fat and grease down the kitchen sink, and the combination of both can create big blockages in sewers.

For more information about how to stay blockage free this Christmas, visit wessexwater.co.uk/binit.