Ken doll, false teeth and cutlery found in sewers
A Ken doll, a set of false teeth and cutlery are among the "weirdest items" to be found in one water company's sewers.
Severn Trent provides water to Gloucestershire, part of Wales, the Midlands, and some of the north of England.
While Severn Trent has said some of the items on its list are "funny", it comes with "an important message".
Grant Mitchell, sewer blockages lead at Severn Trent, has asked people to "be careful" what they are putting in the sewers.
The top ten list of the strangest things found in Severn Trent's sewers include:
Toys, including a Dora the Explorer action figure and a Ken doll
Parts of a garden shed
False teeth
Underwear
A chopped-up bedframe
Glasses
Wallets
Keys
Cutlery
Car tyres
Mr Mitchell said that how the items got in there was "anyone's guess".
"It makes the job pretty entertaining for everyone, but it does come with a very important message for everyone to be careful what you are putting in the sewers as it can cause messy and costly problems for all our customers," he added.
"Although we see items like this at times, the thing we see the most that cause blockages are wet wipes and other ‘unflushable’ items such as nappies and sanitary products.
"We would urge everyone to keep in mind that only the three P’s should be put down the toilet – pee, poo and paper.
"Bin everything else."
Severn Trent said it has managed and cleared 28,782 blockages in the past year, with one of the biggest offenders being wet wipes.
According to the company, even wet wipes that say "flushable" or "biodegradable" on the packaging don't break down like toilet paper does.
Other "problem items" include kitchen roll, cotton buds, nappies and sanitary products.
The government announced last week it would be introducing new legislation to ban wet wipes containing plastic.
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