New research by Thames Water reveals 15.5 million (44 per cent) wet wipe users flush them down the toilet, with more than one in six (16 per cent) doing so daily and a further 16 per cent of users doing it at least once a week.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has that found Kimberly-Clark, owners of Andrex, were misleading customers by not saying whether their toilet wipes were tested against the water industry Fine to Flush standard.

The Marine Conservation Society is warning that own-brand ‘flushable’ wet wipes, which can be bought from 10 leading High Street retailers and supermarkets, can’t carry the new ‘Fine to Flush’ logo.

Wessex Water is calling on supermarkets to wake up to the problem of flushed wet wipes after a Tesco store in Dorset was flooded with sewage.

The UK water companies, together with their official body Water UK, have launched a new flushability standard for all wet wipes in a bid to combat the blockages which currently cost the country £100 million a year.