A busy car park has been cordoned off for emergency repairs after sewage was spotted spilling onto a beach.
Northumbrian Water is working on a damaged sewer pipe that is spilling onto the beach and into the North Sea at Saltburn.
The pipe was damaged by a third party working in the Cat Nab Car Park, next to Skelton Beck.
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The water company say they are working to fix this as soon as possible and the area affected has been blocked off by Redcar and Cleveland Council.
People are being asked to stay away from that area while work takes place.
A spokesperson said: “Major repair work is required to fix the damage and is expected to be ongoing for a number of days. We will provide updates on timescales as soon as they are available.
“In parallel with the emergency repair, tankers will be running continuously to try to reduce the volume if the spill.
“The damaged pipe would normally take the waste to our sewage treatment works in Marske.
“To protect homes from sewer flooding, we are unable to stop the flow through the pipe while the repair is carried out.
“We want to assure all customers in the area that every effort is being taken to complete this repair as quickly as possible.”
A joint statement from Simon Clarke MP and Jacob Young MP said the repair work is expected to take days.
They said: “This evening we have learned of an incident in which a main sewer pipe has been damaged in Saltburn amid work on the extension project at the Cat Nab car park.
“This pipe takes sewage from Saltburn to Marske for treatment. This damage is causing waste to currently spill onto the beach and into the sea.
“The area affected has been cordoned off by Redcar and Cleveland Council and members of the public are being asked to stay away from that area of the beach.
“Emergency repair work is being carried out to stop the flow as quickly as possible and tankers have been deployed to take as much of the flow away from the area as possible.
“People should stay away from the work while it is ongoing, for your own safety and to allow the repair team to work as quickly as possible.
“To protect homes from sewer flooding, it is not possible to block or stop the flow through the pipe while the repairs are carried out.
“The repair work is expected to be ongoing for a number of days.
“We will provide an update as soon as we have further information.”
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