A team of wastewater operators called out to deal with a blocked pipe in Gateshead were stunned to find that the issue was caused by a perfectly-sized bucket jammed inside.
Last Saturday (DEC 30), a team from Northumbrian Water were called to a street in the Team Valley area after being made aware of reports of a blocked sewer.
However, when they entered the chamber and started looking into the fix, they realised that the blockage was being caused by a bucket which was wedged inside of the pipe like a cork.
Using a large jetting machine, the teams, who were unable to tell how it got there, were able to carry out an operation to extract the perfectly-sized plastic item and restore services to normal.
As well as this, several other items were recovered from the sewers across Tyneside in December – including a pair of ladies underwear and a large leather wallet.
Tony Rutherford, Treatment Works Manager at Northumbrian Water, said: “The teams often find all sorts down in the sewers, but it’s definitely the first time we have seen something like this – the bucket was jammed in there like a champagne cork!"
"But thankfully, thanks to the hard work of the team, it was able to be removed quickly and safely, and we were able to avoid a potential environmental impact."
"We often see things in the sewers that shouldn’t really be there, and we have seen an increase in this in the period between Christmas and New Year, so we would like to remind customers that only paper, pee and poo go down the loo."
"As well as the weird and wonderful things we have found, our biggest cause of sewer blockages still is wipes, so please remember to Bin the Wipe in order to help our teams on the ground."