Yorkshire Water warning over Christmas dinner fatbergs

Yorkshire Water discovered a 1.5-tonne fatberg in Leeds in 2020

Families have been urged not to put fat from Christmas dinners down the sink to avoid fatbergs forming in sewers.

Fats, oils and greases can block pipes, causing sewage to spill out, drainage engineers at Yorkshire Water warned.

The company urged people to allow hot fats and oils to cool to a solid and then put them in the bin instead.

Regional manager Miles Cameron said: "You do tend to see an accumulation of fats more at Christmas time, cooking on a larger scale with families around."

"Cooking the traditional turkey creates fats and greases," he added.

Miles Cameron from Yorkshire Water said Christmas meals often lead to more fat being washed down the sink

Instead of washing oils down the sink, he asked people to let the fat cool before collecting it in an appropriate container and putting it in the household waste bin.

Ryan McPherson from Yorkshire Water, who has been helping to clear drains in Withernsea before the Christmas period, said the team found "fat, oils and grease in our network quite a lot".

"This is what we have to deal with, it solidifies and sets further downstream, which causes us issues," he said.

Ryan McPherson said fats could solidify further down pipes and cause blockages