09/01/2006 - Cranswick Country Foods, a meat products company, were fined £12,000 at Hull Magistrates Court after pleading guilty to polluting a watercourse with blood. The company, whose head office is at Cranswick, Driffield, were ordered to pay costs of £1,843 to the Environment Agency, which brought the case.

The court heard that the case related to the company’s abattoir at Staithes Road, Preston, near Hull.

Following complaints from the public about pollution an Environment Agency officer visited the site on 12 November 2004. She found that Reedmere Sewer, a watercourse alongside Luck Lane, was polluted for around 200 metres. Samples showed the pollution was effluent contaminated with blood.

During an interview with Environment Agency officers on 18 February 2005 a representative of the company explained that there had been a blockage within the foul sewer system, which had caused the effluent to leak into electricity cable ducting, and thence to a ducting system which led to the watercourse.

The court heard the prosecution make the points that the pollution had been in the watercourse for a week without the company being aware, and that, despite a previous warning for a similar offence, the company was still not checking the watercourse.

In mitigation it was said that the company had responded to the situation, and spent £1 million annually on environmental issues. They had not checked the watercourse because they believed their systems were so good it was not necessary.

The magistrates said that they accepted that the company had spent money and time on their systems, but that water was a precious resource and the company’s failure to check the watercourse was an important point

Environment Agency officer Bridget Ellerington said: “This incident was entirely foreseeable, and was due to a lack of maintenance procedures. Today’s results shows the Agency will not hesitate to take action against those who fail to take the appropriate and necessary steps to safeguard our environment.”