UK company fined for latex leak

Dewsbury, UK -A Derbyshire company has been fined £10 000 for polluting four kilometres of the River Spen near Heckmondwike, Yorkshire, with liquid latex.

National Floor Coverings of Greenhill Lane, Riddings, Derbyshire admitted one charge of polluting a watercourse.

The District Judge at Dewsbury Magistrate's Court also ordered the company to pay costs of £3000 to the Environment Agency, which brought the case.

Counsel for the Environment Agency, Mrs Louise Azmi, told the court that the Environment Agency had received reports of the River Spen running white at 8am on 9 June 2005. Two environment officers went to investigate and found a milky-white discharge coming from a drain at the side of the river, parallel to the National Floor Coverings site.

At an interview with environment officers, company representatives admitted that they had noticed a liquid getting into the river from a drain near their site. They had attempted to stop the leak by bunging various drains and had called a specialist contractor to come to clear up some of the liquid. This operation had to stop when the tanker became full.

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Statement from the Environment Agency