COLEFORD officially declared itself the smelliest town in the Forest after a tanker dumped its entire load of human sewage slap bang in the town centre.

Police officers shut down the roads around Market Square for four hours, while firefighters wearing masks hosed down the streets which were three inches deep in foul smelling effluent.

"You can now say Coleford's definitely the sh***iest town in the Forest – official." said Pat Scott who runs the fruit and vegetable shop in the town centre. "The smell was appalling, it really got to the back of your throat."

The Welsh Water tanker was on its way to Monmouth from Newland's sewage treatment works when the spillage started.

Cllr Terry Hales, from Newland, says he was first alerted to the overflow by a resident from Millend at about 8.40am, which means the effluent was pouring from the tanker for more than a mile before reaching Coleford.

"It wasn't so bad to start with, but going over the speed bumps in Coleford meant about three inches was deposited. Mind you, the emergency services worked really well together. The police closed down the town centre and the fire service washed the street down, cars down and managed to get the tanker back.

"What we're not sure is whether the spill was human error or a malfunction - like a frozen tap or something like that."

Welsh Water admitted responsibility for the incident, stating: "A Welsh Water vehicle was involved in a spillage incident in Coleford. A tanker was on a routine journey transferring partially treated sewage sludge from Newlands Wastewater Treatment Works to our works at Monmouth for further treatment. We are very sorry for the inconvenience and unpleasantness caused to local people by this very unusual incident. We do not know at this stage why this happened, but we will investigate thoroughly to discover the reason and take any action necessary to avoid a recurrence."