Wafting whiff makes town stink

‘STINCKLEY’ was living up to its name this week with a pervasive pong permeating the air.

Many of those whose nose had been offended by the mystery miasma took to social media to vent their vexation.

The stench, described almost unanimously as ‘fishy’, even instigated an official investigation by borough council environmental health officials at the behest of Clarendon ward representative David Bill.

It was this section of Hinckley which seemed to suffer most seriously from the reek although whiffs were wafting into the town centre and beyond.

Cllr Bill called for action following complaints made on Wednesday (August 16).

By this time Facebook was awash with posts from a perplexed public seeking answers at to the origin of the odour.

Chris Joyce said: “I could smell it in my kitchen. I said to hubby I can smell fish.”

Samantha Fox commented: “Had to shut windows and doors was soooooooo bad I was gagging, hate the smell of fish.”

Unsurprisingly, there were a multitude of rather smutty reasons reported as to why the smell had sprung up, although some posters did offer more sensible suggestions.

‘Muck spreading’ by farmers using either fertiliser made from fish or lime was a pragmatic approach.

While another commenter claimed it was due to cooling units failing at a fish processing unit.

Enquiries by the borough council’s officers revealed the smell did indeed come from farmland - but not actually in Hinckley and Bosworth.

The source of the stink is apparently fields on the Nuneaton side of the A5, possibly as one person speculated because of fish fertiliser spreading.

The borough council has passed on the information to colleagues at Nuneaton and Bedworth.