'˜Don't flush wet wipes down the lavatory'

It comes after Gillian Dawson’s toilet was overflowing for a week as the sewers in Deerfold were clogged with the wipes.

An engineer from water and wastewater emergency company United Utilities had to come out to unblock the pipes which he said had jammed due to wet wipes.

“It’s been a complete nightmare,” said Gillian, 46. “Our toilet started to overflow last week and there were smells coming from our neighbour’s garden.”

Each year across the North West United Utilities tackles thousands of blockages, costing around £10 million. By far the biggest culprits are wipes and food waste.

A company spokesman, said: “Items that cause the most problems are baby wipes, make-up wipes and left over fats, grease and oil from cooking.”