Pretty in Pink – Celebrating a Sewer Service Milestone

It must be the most famous chunk of fat in the world.

In 2018, the Whitechapel Fatberg, lurking beneath the streets of Britain’s capital, captured the imagination of millions around the globe.

It brought home the horrors of fatbergs – huge blobs of fat, oil, and wet wipes that clog up sewers – triggering many more sightings across the UK and the world.

It was even turned into an exhibition at the Museum of London.

The Whitechapel fatberg has also became part of the history of a drainage company that has some of its deepest roots in Lancashire and the North-West.

Because the wastewater engineers who battled the smelly and downright dangerous sewer monster worked for Lanes Group plc on behalf of Thames Water.

Sitting in his office in Eccles, Greater Manchester, Lanes Chief Executive Wayne Earnshaw, remains bemused by the reaction to the Whitechapel fatberg.

“It was a bit like a lid being lifted on a hidden world, and the public going wow!” he said. “It was the sort of thing our teams deal with day in and day out.

“But for others it’s a peek into the unknown. A real horror story! But then anyone who works in sewers will tell you how fascinating they really are.”

Above: Slice of success: Lanes Chief Executive Wayne Earnshaw cuts a jet vac tanker anniversary cake, made by East Lancashire celebrity baker Molly Robbins, former star of Channel 4’s Extreme Cake Makers.

Above: Allan Earnshaw

The fact that it was Lanes that did the hard graft to clear the fatberg, protecting many thousands of Londoners from damaging sewer floods, shows how far Lanes has come.

The company, famed for its bright pink vehicles, and still known by many as Lanes for Drains, is celebrating its 30th anniversary in 2022.

Founded in the north of England, Lanes is now a truly national business, the UK’s largest independent drainage and wastewater specialist, with a company in Ireland too.

Employing more than 2,200 people, it is trusted by thousands of businesses, government agencies and homeowners – and maintains sewer systems relied upon by millions of people across the country.

It is easy to say this success could not have been predicted. But its founder, Wayne Earnshaw’s father, was a man on a mission.

In April 1992, Allan Earnshaw, an entrepreneur and skilled engineer from Rossendale, Lancashire, joined forces with his then business partner, Graham Tattersall, to buy a drainage company with one depot in Leeds from its owner, John Lane.

Allan had already built up and sold a successful engineering business. Neolith designed and manufactured water jetting pumps, exported around the world and used by many UK drainage companies to clean sewers.

Allan could see the potential, and did not want to waste time building his own drainage business. The first new depot to open, later in 1992, was located in Rossendale.