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Nigel Rice Transport fined £5,000 for diesel spill
31st March 2004
Beverley Magistrates today (Wednesday) fined a local transport company £3,750 following a pollution incident in March last year (2003).
Nigel Rice Transport Limited of Barmston Close, Swinemoor Lane, Beverley admitted causing polluting matter, namely diesel, to enter a controlled watercourse, namely Swinemoor Drain, on March 27, 2003.
The company was also ordered to pay £1,250 in costs to the Environment Agency which brought the case.
The case occurred after a member of the public called the Environment Agency to report oil on Beverley and Barmston Drain. Officers investigated and traced the source of the diesel to Nigel Rice Transport"s site. It had entered via Swinemoor Drain, which ran next to the company"s site.
During the investigation it transpired that the company placed two fuel orders with separate companies. One of the orders was subsequently cancelled, but no one at the transport company realised that the fuel had already been delivered and transferred to a storage tank at the site.
The second order of fuel was then delivered and also transferred to the tank, however, there was not enough capacity in the tank to hold both amounts of fuel and the diesel sprayed out of a gas vent pipe and ran into the nearby drain.
The investigation revealed around 17,000 litres of diesel was lost from the site. The fuel was seen up to a kilometre away on Barmston Drain and oily ducks were also reported.
In mitigation the company said an administrative failure meant that both deliveries were made. The tank was large enough to store one delivery, but not both.
Matt Womersley, an Environment Officer for the Agency, said: “Companies need to take care when receiving deliveries of potentially polluting substances. Dealing with oil and diesel should not be taken lightly and companies should ensure they have the proper facilities and staff in place to deal with such deliveries, whenever they happen.”
Copyright 2004 The Environment Agency Wales
www.environment-agency.gov.uk
IMPORTANT INFORMATION: The intellectual property in the above article is the property of The Environment Agency and is reproduced in accordance with The Environment Agency’s Notice and Rights of Obligation, a full copy of which may be viewed online at http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/other/help/196644/?version=1&lang=_e
