Christmas Eve update: A lane of the A44 Sidbury Road has reopened after STW workers removed a fatberg from a sewer pipe, that caused heavy congestion.



Original story: MOTORISTS have been left frustrated as a city centre road remains closed while engineers continue to remove a fatberg from a sewer pipe, causing heavy congestion.

A lane of A44 Sidbury Road was closed from Thursday (December 21) in the direction of Skellerns Motorcycles, while teams from Severn Trent Water (STW) worked to clear the blockage.

A spokesman for STW told the Worcester News today: “The lane’s still shut while we suck out a combination of fat and water to allow us to get a closer look at what’s caused the blockage.

“We’re on the verge of getting a CCTV camera down for a closer look but I’ve put one of the images of what the team is dealing with below.”

He said he couldn’t give an ETA on when things would be back to normal because “it’s taking us longer than expected to remove the offending materials”.

He went on to say: “We’d urge all of our customers to only put pee, poo and paper down the toilet, and to not put fats, oils and greases down the sewers to help prevent issues like this from happening.”

On Thursday, another spokesman apologised for the inconvenience but said the closure was to ensure the safety of engineers.

“Our teams will be using tankers and other equipment to help clear the blockage, so will need to use a lane closure to keep our engineers and road users safe,” he said.

“We understand this is a well-used route into the city, especially at this time of year.

"However, it will be our priority to complete the work and return everything back to normal as quickly as we can.”