Anti-anthrax tanker causes leak alert
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• A full-scale scare involving a lorry carrying highly toxic chemicals resulted in major traffic disruption in the Scottish Highlands last weekend.
An unmarked lorry carrying 34,000 litres of formaldehyde to be used to de-contaminate the anthrax-infested island of Gruinard in Wester Ross started to leak and the driver pulled in at a filling station in Tarvie.
The leak was dealt with by firemen wearing special clothes, and traffic was disrupted for six hours. A passing train also had to be stopped.
The work on Gruinard Island is being carried out by the Ministry of Defence, which says that the contract for carrying the chemical was awarded to a Leicestershire firm Languard Holdings.
The driver was taking the second of 24 loads of the chemical to Laide in Wester Ross, from where it will be flown by helicopter to the island which has been a no-go area since the Second World War.
Donald Ross, owner of the filling station, said he was surprised that the vehicle had no external warning signs saying it was carrying chemicals.
Local SDP MP Charles Kennedy has asked why the MoD sent the load by road when it would have been safer at sea.
He also wants to know why the lorry was not marked to show what it was carrying.