26-May-2006
- Reddish brown waste vegetable oil from Sovereign
Food Group’s Attleborough site polluted a nearby
watercourse costing the company an £8,000
fine and £2,473 costs.
King’s Lynn magistrates were
told that staff at the site, which trades as Grampian
Convenience Foods, washed down a spill into surface
water sewers which then led to the nearby watercourse.
The Environment Agency was alerted
by a member of the public who saw the oil on the
water. At the same time several independent witnesses
also reported having seen employees of Sovereign
Foods pressure washing the public road outside
the premises.
There was a failure of the staff
to understand the consequences of their actions
which resulted in the pollution. The spill should
have been expertly cleaned up
Oily liquid got onto the road
through a manhole cover in the company yard after
it had overflowed from an underground containment
tank used to contain spillages from a waste oil
tank above it.
A leaking clean water pipe had
helped to fill up and overflow the underground
tank overnight.
CCTV cameras from the company
showed employees pressure washing the yard and
an area outside their premises on Whitehouse Lane.
After the hearing Senior Environment
Officer Phil Henderson said: ‘The level of fine
in this case reflected the seriousness of the
incident and its effect on the local environment
and highlighted the company's weakness in dealing
with such events.
‘The siting of a water supply
pipe above a waste oil retention bund was an obvious
weakness but the action of the company to simply
wash the resulting oil contaminated water into
a drain, without knowing where it went, was reckless.
‘We urge all companies storing
oils, fuels or chemicals to ensure that all their
staff are suitably trained and equipped to deal
with such events and seek advice from the Environment
Agency where necessary.’
Sovereign Foods pleaded guilty
to: On or about the 8th September 2005 at Attleborough
in the county of Norfolk you did cause poisonous,
noxious or polluting matter namely waste vegetable
oil to enter controlled waters, specifically an
unnamed tributary of the River Thet.
Contrary to Section 85(1) of the Water Resources
Act 1991.
The company had been sent a
warning letter in January 2004 for a discharge
of polluting matter to the same controlled water
in July 2003.
