14.07.2009

Water Pollution Results in £12,500 Fine

James Durrans & Sons Limited, of Sheffield was fined £12,500 and ordered to pay prosecution costs of £2,861.77 and a victim surcharge of £15 for polluting a beck with red diesel.

The company reported to the Environment Agency that there had been a spill of 300 litres of red diesel into Shiny Beck from its Brancepeth Works in Willington, and a clean-up was ongoing.

A rubber pipe from a fuel tank became detached and the diesel leaked out into the surface water drain, which ran into the beck. Company staff used absorbent pads the following day to try to soak up the diesel from the beck. An ecologist’s report found the diesel spill had led to the death of insects and invertebrates for over two kilometres and aquatic life in the beck was expected to take up to two years to fully recover from the pollution.

The company had no emergency procedures in place at the time to deal with such an incident. However it had made attempts to clear up the spill, which was accidental, and co-operated fully with the Environment Agency investigation. The company has now fitted extra valves and a sand trap to prevent a repeat of this incident.