Abattoir fined for damaging water quality

A Lincolnshire abattoir has been fined £8,000 and been ordered to pay costs of £3,410 after it pleaded guilty to causing a serious pollution incident which damaged the water quality of a local river.

Lincs Turkey, based in Grainthorpe, admitted the charge at Skegness Magistrates' Court on Wednesday (January 27th).

In October 2008, the Environment Agency was called to South Drain, which had been running red with blood. The organisation discovered concentrations of fat, feathers and what appeared to be poultry meat in the river.

The polluting material originated from a manhole next to the factory and the company claimed that the waste had escaped due to a blocked drain.

Claire Bentley, prosecuting for the Environment Agency, told the court that the incident could have been prevented.

"There were no maintenance records for the site drainage system, despite the number and proximity of manholes on site to the South Drain," she said.

Pollution figures for 2008 showed a substantial drop in the number of serious incidents reported to the agency compared with the previous year.

However, the organisation called for courts to impose heftier fines on those found to be in breach of environmental legislation in future.

Posted by Joseph Hutton