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'Reckless' DHL fined for biodiesel spillage into waterway
Page 13
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DHL HAS BEEN fined L8,000 with almost £6,000 costs after it caused biodiesel fuel to spill into a brook, polluting 6km of the waterway.
The Environment Agency (EA) told Wirral Magistrate's Court that about 5,000 litres of the fuel, consisting of 95% low-sulphur diesel and 5% rapeseed oil, spilled into Arrowe Brook after a vehicle reversed into a fuel oil tank at Wirral Business Park in Upton.
The tank was being used by DHL Freight and Contract Logistics as a temporary fuel store in the event of a fuel dispute.
Merseyside Fire Brigade alerted LA officers who discovered that the fuel had entered the brook via surface-water drains located on the company's car park.
An EA ecological appraisal officer reported that the spill had a significant impact on the invertebrate population for at least 2km and a suspected impact on at least a further 6km.
Afterthehearing, environmental crime officer Dave Hogg said: "The actions of the company were reckless., by their failure to ensure adequate protection measures in the use of the tank."
He concluded: "While we wel come any lessons learnt, [DHL] is a large company with the capacity to invest in resources to ensure that it doesn't pollute the environment." DHL was unavailable for comment.