A bizarre collections of items retrieved from sewer pipes has been shared by South West Water in the UK.

The water company is urging customers to think twice before they flush or drop things down the drain after engineers pulled out a toy car, a fully-inflated armband, a football and even a traffic cone.

While teams are constantly battling with everyday 'unflushables' like wet wipes, cooking fat and cotton pads, these latest discoveries - spotted on cameras sent down the pipes - left even the most experienced engineers scratching their heads.

“We’re always working to stay prepared for the unexpected,” said Jay Harris, director of wastewater operations at South West Water, “but when a toy car was parked illegally in a sewer pipe, we knew this wasn’t your average day. We even had a traffic cone making a bid for freedom through the sewer network. ""It’s amazing what turns up in our sewers, and we really don’t know how these mysterious items get there."

As fascinating as these finds may be, the consequences are no laughing matter, says South West Water.

Blockages caused by inappropriate items in the sewer can lead to wastewater backing up into homes and gardens, damage to infrastructure, and environmental pollution in local rivers and seas. They can also cause flooding in streets, especially during wet weather.

Each year, South West Water clears around 8,500 avoidable blockages, working around the clock at a cost of millions of pounds. The utility says that many could be prevented with a little more care about what goes down the loo or sink and especially down the drains.