Repairs to London drains began this week after a giant ‘fatberg’ as big as a bus was cut out of the London sewer system.

Called Britain’s “biggest ever” fatberg by Thames Water, the rancid block of food fat and wet wipes was removed from drains under London Road in Kingston.

The disgusting fat had reduced the 70x48cm sewer to just 5% of its normal capacity, images from Thames Water’s CCTV investigation revealed (pictured).

Gordon Hailwood, waste contracts supervisor for the water company said: “While we’ve removed greater volumes of fat from under central London in the past, we’ve never seen a single, congealed lump of lard this big clogging our sewers before.”

He added: “The sewer was almost completely clogged with over 15 tonnes of fat. If we hadn’t discovered it in time, raw sewage could have started spurting out of manholes across the whole of Kingston.”

The problem of ‘fatbergs’ in London could recede when a new power station in Beckton begins burning waste fat. Restaurants in the capital which previously chucked fat down the drains will install fat-traps and send it to the power plant.