One of the dead piranhas that blocked a sewer in Shropshire.

Resident had flushed fish down the toilet

A Shropshire stink has been traced to piranhas that were blocking the sewers.

Residents in Madeley, Telford, called Severn Trent Water complaining of a fishy smell coming from the sewers.

The water firm sent a team to investigate – and were surprised to find dead piranha fish.

"It appears that a nearby resident had been disposing of dead fish, including piranhas, down the toilet and they had blocked the sewers," said a spokeswoman for the water firm.

Matt Final and Jay Slater from Severn Trent Water who found the fish said: “We’ve certainly seen some weird things in the sewers over the years but we were a little shocked to remove piranhas.

"You wouldn’t think a fish of this size would fit down a toilet, but this is just one example of amazing things we find blocking the sewers.”

The company said it is just one example of inappropriate objects being flushed down the toilet.

In the past year its has been called to nearly 4,000 blockages in Shropshire, about 75 per cent of which were due to people misusing the sewer system. In January it recovered a pile of pants that had been flushed away.

The firm said the blockages are costing the firm more than £10m a year to clean up.

Image by Severn Trent Water