Shoe firm is fined for polluting river

From the Swindon Advertiser, first published Friday 22nd Jun 2001.

A SWINDON shoe company has been fined £8,000 for allowing oil from its warehouse to pollute a river, despite repeated warnings from the Environment Agency.

Thousands of litres of oil were allowed to run from a leaky pipe at the Park South warehouse of United Footwear into the River Cole.

The oil is poison to fish and could cause long-term damage, Swindon magistrates were told.

The owner of United Footwear, Robert Blunt, pleaded guilty at Swindon Magistrates' Court to causing polluting matter to enter the River Cole between last February and October, in breach of the 1991 Water Resources Act.

In addition to the fine, he was ordered to pay costs of £3,750.

The court was told that the oil spread as far as three kilometres downstream to Greenbridge lagoon.

The oil flowed into drains on the warehouse site which should carry only rain water and then into the river.

The pollution was first traced to the United Footwear warehouse last February. But it was not until April this year, after the installation of an oil interceptor, that the pollution ceased.

Janet Fedrick, acting for the Environment Agency, said advice and warnings were given repeatedly. An investigation was carried out which revealed a large quantity of oil had previously escaped into the foundations and the drainage system of the building and was continuing to find its way into the surface water system, and into the river.

She said that Blunt should have been aware of the leak. United Footwear was visited by its oil supply company in February 2000, and told there must be a leak because of the extra quantities of oil being used.

The Environment Agency told Blunt to carry out a simple test, but this was never done, it was alleged. Remedial work, to stop oil flowing into the river, was not carried out until a year later.

Blunt is based at his company's headquarters in Kidderminster, Worcestershire. He was unavailable for comment after the case.

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