Plumbers in Essex were the third most complained about in the country.

Freedom of Information requests submitted by the Water Regulation Advisory Scheme found 305 complaints about plumbers were made to Essex County Council's Trading Standard's department in two years.

That placed the county's pipe men just behind Surrey and Buckinghamshire, which both received 313.

The South East of England dominated the list with thousands of complaints across counties including Kent and Hertfordshire.

Despite there being more than 7,000 complaints lodged to UK councils in the last two years, only 12 fines were issued.

While this may not be welcome news for the county's plumbers, Essex does have one of the largest populations in the UK and hard water readily capable of damaging pipes.