The company, Taw and Torridge Coaches Ltd, was fined £25,500 this week and ordered to pay costs of over £80,000 after diesel leaked from tanks on their Barnstaple site into the Taw estuary.
In a case brought by the Environment Agency, Mark Hunt, the company’s managing director since 2003, admitted being responsible, but blamed the pollution on a nearby petrol station. Tests showed the diesel sold there was of a different type from that in the estuary.
The court heard that the family run business had operated from the depot in Coney Avenue since 2012. The site already contained an above ground 30,000 litre diesel tank that had two metered fuel pumps connected to the tank via pipework located in a below ground conduit. The meters had not been calibrated since the company took on the site and no maintenance contract or records exist for this refuelling facility.
Environment officers went there in 2019 following reports of diesel in the Taw estuary. The oil was traced to a tributary called the Coney Gut diversion channel and from there back to the site. Diesel was found floating on the surface of groundwater within old oil recovery sumps and wells and a conduit was full of oily sludge.
Hunt had the tank and pipework pressure tested, the results of which he presented as proof that the system was not leaking. However, it was shown that he had sealed around the screw-filled hole with resin prior to the testing being done. The pipework was subsequently replaced. On the pipe’s removal, it was found to be peppered with more small holes.
An Anti-Pollution Works Notice was served on the defendants, requiring them to carry out remediation works recommended by a clean-up company. The company employed contractors to set up a ground water remediation system which recovered thousands of litres of diesel. However, when the insurance money ran out, Hunt did not continue to use the contractors as recommended in their report. Subsequently, it was found in April 2021 that there was still a possibility of diesel leaking from the ground surrounding the coach depot.
The company was fined £25,500 for the second charge against them, to be paid within 28 days, ordered to pay prosecution costs of £41,727.99 and remediation costs of £43,100.01. No separate fine was given for the other two charges and the charges against Hunt were ordered to lay on file.
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