'Creature' caught on CCTV in North West sewer network (From Lancashire Telegraph)
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'Creature' caught on CCTV in North West sewer network
12:00pm Friday 1st April 2011 in News
SPOTTED The 'creature' on the CCTV footage of the April Fools Day hoax
SIGHTINGS of an unusual-looking animal in the sewer network in the North West, which we reported this morning, were an April Fools Day hoax.
The creature, dubbed 'Messie', was described as being 'far too big for a rat, standing upright on strong back legs'.
Grainy CCTV footage of the 'creature' was filmed in real sewers as part of the stunt.
Water company United Utilities came up with the idea to highlight the perils of flushing inappropriate items down the loo.
It clears 15,000 sewer blockages a year after the wrong items are flushed away.
The blockages cause sewage to flood onto roads, pavements, rivers and even into customers' homes.
Rose Francis, United Utilities campaign manager, said: "The real monsters lurking in the sewers are the baby wipes, cotton buds and nappies which clog pipes and cause flooding.
"It's a big issue, as the resulting flooding can cause real distress for households, and pollute local watercourses.
"By using a bin in the bathroom instead of flushing waste, many of these flooding incidents can be avoided."
According to the Consumer Council for Water, three quarters of all sewer blockages - and half of all cases of sewer flooding - are caused by people putting items they shouldn't down the loo or the sink.
Among the more unsual items found in North West sewers in recent years are a railway sleeper, false teeth, bullets, a motorbike, a wad of used banknotes and a live salamander.
United Utilities' What Not To Flush marketing campaign uses school visits, advertising and PR stunts to encourage customers to think before they flush.
The campaign goes by the tagline "What you flush could come back to haunt you."
Comments(16)
Cheese gnome
says...
8:13am Fri 1 Apr 11
Joseph O'M
says...
9:10am Fri 1 Apr 11
useyourhead
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9:19am Fri 1 Apr 11
Frisson
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9:30am Fri 1 Apr 11
happycyclist
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9:42am Fri 1 Apr 11
Frisson wrote:LOL!
Its Steve Kean
notchuffed
says...
10:03am Fri 1 Apr 11
I said we shouldn't have flushed her down the toilet
Carter@Rovers
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10:04am Fri 1 Apr 11
Might find Dioufy down there & tell him he's needed back at Rovers asap!
Great Prank.!
chris283
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10:04am Fri 1 Apr 11
A Darener
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10:11am Fri 1 Apr 11
chris283 wrote:For goodness sake.....Lighten up. We need something to laugh at in these miserable times.
put somert proper in the news never mind stupid aprils fool jokes
Ambience
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11:11am Fri 1 Apr 11
Caspar the ghost
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11:17am Fri 1 Apr 11
Miller11
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2:36pm Fri 1 Apr 11
Lifeinthemix
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3:56pm Fri 1 Apr 11
NICEONESUNSHINE
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7:21pm Fri 1 Apr 11
zaney5
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10:27pm Fri 1 Apr 11
Dickiepayshey says...
8:13am Fri 1 Apr 11