Cokeworks fined for polluting beck

A cokeworks in Durham has been fined £12,500 and ordered to pay costs of almost £3,000 after polluting a beck with red diesel.

According to the Environment Agency, the company in question reported last year that there had been a spill of 300 litres into Shiny Beck.

Officers attending the scene took water samples which revealed the presence of hydrocarbons.

Trevor Cooper, prosecuting for the Environment Agency, told the court that the spill had led to the death of insects and other aquatic life across a two-kilometre area, with ecologists expecting the beck to take around two years to recover.

The court heard that the company in question had no emergency procedures in place to deal with such incidents.

In related news, a farmer in Devon was fined over £7,000 earlier this week for pouring slurry over a cliff near a popular beach.

A member of the public reported the incident after seeing the effluent entering the sea.

Written by Joseph Hutton