Alba Transport fined for offal spillages
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Firm fined for multiple spillages that upset members of public confronted with sight and smell of intestines
By Roger Brown
HALIFAX-BASED HAULIER Alba Transport has been ordered to pay more than £40,000 after trucks operated by the irm spilled poultry offal on to roads, breaching health and safety regulations.
Bradford Crown Court was told Alba wagons had been involved in multiple spillages, including animal waste being deposited on several roads around the Bradford area.
On various occasions in 2009, witnesses had seen skip lorries collecting waste from restaurants in the city, spill chicken offal in nearby streets. One pile of intestines was seen on a pavement near a school and on another occasion a motorcyclist skidded on the offal.
Other residents described a strong smell of decomposition lingering for days. In mitigaton, lawyers for Alba Transport, part of the Leo Group, said that the company had been in the process of upgrading its leet so the problems could not happen again. However, Judge Scott Wolstenholme, said: “These offences are very serious and caused upset to members of the public confronted with the disgusting sight and smell of animal blood and intestines.
“The offences continued even after charges had been brought. More should have been done to prevent these spillages.” Alba Transport pleaded guilty to two offences of breaching animal by-products transport regulations and asked for six similar offences to be taken into consideration.The company was ined £32,000 with costs of £9,500.
A statement issued by Alba Transport following the case says the irm regrets the accidents and has apologised for them.
It said: “For us, one spillage is one too many. None of these were intentional and the waste material was not diseased, contaminated or hazardous; nor does it pose a risk to health.
“To put them into perspective, over the last three years our leet of 100 vehicles travelled the equivalent of 1,000 times around the earth (41million km).
“They carried more than 1.5 million tonnes of animal waste, which is the equivalent weight of 70 Ark Royal aircraft carriers.”
Alba said it was determined to minimise the chance of these accidents happening again.
It added: “We are an integral part of the UK’s agricultural industry, which is worth £80bn a year to the UK economy and our work makes shopping baskets cheaper for everyone.” Following the hearing, Ghazanfer Khaliq, Bradford Council’s executive member for environment and sport, said the case showed the council will do all it can to protect residents from obnoxious animal waste leaking from vehicles onto roads.
He added: “There are very good reasons why the regulations concerning the transport of animal waste should be strictly enforced. Not only is the smell and appearance of this material offensive, there is also a risk of the spread of infection.
“Any company allowing animal waste to spill onto the streets of the Bradford district will ind itself facing investigation and prosecution by our environmental protection oficers.”.