Congealed fat, sanitary napkins, wet wipes, condoms and nappies – known in the trade as a fatberg - closes March Tesco store

A fatberg caused the March Tesco to close this morning (December 6). PHOTO: Harry Rutter Archant

A congealed lump of fat, sanitary napkins, wet wipes, condoms and nappies – known in the waste trade as a fatberg – caused closure of a major Fenland supermarket today.

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Anglian Water confirmed the cause of the burst pipe in March this morning (December 6) was a fatberg in the sewer pipes.

The Tesco store on Hostmoor Avenue was evacuated this morning after a main water pipe burst outside the store.

A similar incident occurred in London this September, the fatberg was the size of 11 double decker buses, stretching the length of two football pitches.

The removal operation took a team armed with high-pressure jets and shovels around three weeks to complete.

Although the March fatberg is not to that scale, the grim breakdown task is still a disgusting job that nobody would want to do.

The fatberg was cleared at around 1:50pm this afternoon and the Tesco store is set to open again soon.

Anglian Water say the incident is a “good warning” that we shouldn’t be putting fats down the sink.