WESSEX Water is warning people not to flush wet wipes down the toilet after workers had to unblock a sewer in Bournemouth. The water company tweeted pictures of the unsightly mess caused by a mass of wet wipes blocking a sewer in a residential street between Pokesdown and Tuckton on Thursday.

A spokesperson for Wessex Water is urging people to only flush "the three Ps - paper, poo, and pee - to avoid the misery and expense of a blockage in their home or a neighbour's".

Referring to the pictures taken by workers on Thursday, the spokesperson said: "Unfortunately this grim sight is typical of what our sewerage crews encounter day and night.

"We’re called to resolve around 13,000 blockages every year in the Wessex Water region, a huge proportion of which are caused by wet wipes that have been wrongly flushed down the toilet.

"Wet wipes – even those marked ‘flushable’ – don’t break down like regular toilet paper after going down the U-bend and can cause blockages, leading to sewage flooding people’s homes and gardens."