Sewage spills cause charity sea swim cancellation

A charity sea swim has been cancelled due to sewage discharges, its organisers said.

The annual New Year's Day dip in Hornsea, East Yorkshire, has been running for 14 years and raises funds for the town's lifeboat.

Hornsea Inshore Rescue (HIR) said there had been "sewage overflow events" since 01:00 GMT.

Yorkshire Water has apologised and said "storm overflows operate to relieve pressure when there are periods of heavy or prolonged rainfall".

Sue Hickson-Marsay, from HIR, said she was disappointed at the cancellation but public safety came first.

"If someone did get poorly, which there is the possibility when things like that happen, then it's not going to sit well with us," she said.

The dozens of people who turned out in their swimming gear were instead treated to a "hosedown party" and were sprayed with water from a fire engine.

One woman, who was forced to cancel her swim, said she thought Yorkshire Water owed the town an apology and suggested the firm's chief executive, Nicola Shaw, should make a donation to the independent lifeboat charity.

"That's not fair, is it?" she said.

"This is a big fundraiser for them and that's what they depend on for the rest of the year."

A spokesperson for Yorkshire Water said: "We'd like to apologise to Hornsea Inshore Rescue and our customers for any inconvenience caused by the storm impact on our assets in Hornsea.

"Storm overflows operate to relieve pressure when there are periods of heavy or prolonged rainfall to prevent sewage backing up in the system and flooding homes and gardens.

"However, we understand our customer's concern, and we're investing more than £1bn over the next five years to reduce discharges across Yorkshire."

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