| 18/11/2005
- Two farming brothers from the Harrogate area were today,
Friday 18 November 2005, fined £500 each at Harrogate
Magistrates Court for pollution offences. Andrew
Wilkinson of Manor Farm, Fearby, Harrogate, and Nigel
Wilkinson of Manor Farm Cottage, Low Ellington, near Masham,
admitted the charges and were each ordered to pay £615
in costs to the Environment Agency, which brought the
case.
The court heard that, following a
phone call from a member of the public on 22 November
2004, Environment Agency officers discovered an oil sheen
on the River Ure at Masham. William Wilkinson, father
of the defendants, also rang to say there had a been a
leak from a fuel tank.
Officers visited Manor Farm at Low
Ellington, and discovered that a metal fuel tank was leaking
from a hole that had been plugged with a screw and a piece
of cloth.
It was later estimated that around
400 gallons of red diesel had leaked from the tank. An
inspection revealed there was no protective bund around
the tank to prevent the spread of leaks and no locking
mechanism on the tank or filler hose.
The officers followed a culvert which
led to Broad Beck and thence to the River Ure. The diesel
pollution persisted as far as, and into, the Ure. A bio-survey
carried out after a further visit revealed that most aquatic
life in Broad Beck had been killed up to one kilometre
downstream of the leak, and there were 35 dead fish.
Officers laid booms across the beck
to catch the remaining diesel, and William Wilkinson arranged
for a vacuum tanker to remove as much of the accumulated
diesel from the water and yard as possible.
In mitigation it was said that the
Wilkinsons had paid the costs of the cleanup, which came
to £2,824, and that they believed that the leak
had been the result of an act of vandalism.
A Reverend Cleeves appeared in court
as a character witness testifying on behalf of Andrew
Wilkinson. |
