Potatoes, a tin of peaches and a fish - The unusual objects flushed down the loo during the coronavirus lockdown
A tin of peaches, a hard boiled egg and a fish were amongst some of the unusual things that have been flushed down the toilet during the coronavirus lockdown.
Northumbrian Water has revealed some of the strangest things their sewage teams have found clogged up in sewers in the six weeks of lockdown.
In the last six weeks alone Northumbrian Water teams have found a hard boiled egg and potatoes in County Durham, an unopened tin of peaches in South Shields and even a dead fish in Sunderland that have all been flushed down the loo.
And elsewhere in the North East, the likes of socks and a hand towel have been flushed in Stockton, tights in North Tyneside, a toy car in Middlesbrough, and even a cut-up bed sheet found near a prison in the region have been flushed.
But the biggest blockage culprit continues to be wet wipes.
Simon Cyhanko, Head of Wastewater Networks at Northumbrian Water, said: "It's beyond belief some of the weird things our teams uncover in our sewer network and we sometimes wonder what people are thinking?!
"We know accidents can happen and items get flushed by mistake, but sadly, some customers are using their toilet as a bin to flush things that have no place in our network.
"Although we find lots of different items in our sewers, the main cause of blockages is wet wipes.
"Wipes and other items may leave your toilet bowl when flushed, but can clog up your plumbing and cause avoidable plumber callout charges.
"Blockages can have heart-breaking consequences, from causing people's homes to be flooded with toilet waste to the environment being polluted. It's really not nice to see.
"Customers can help by making one simple change and that's to not use toilets as a bin. Please put all wipes in the bin and support our campaign to Bin The Wipe."