A machinery repair company has a £7,000 bill after accepting responsibility for poisoning a brook in Basildon.
GE Energy Services (UK) Ltd, based in Crompton Close, Basildon, spent around £18,000 on a clean-up operation after the cleaning solvent, Meggaboost, leaked from a metal tank it disposed of.
It was dumped in a skip above a drain and when the tank leaked the chemical escaped into the drain and then into a brook in July last year.
The solvent affected 350 metres of the watercourse reacting with the water in a similar way water does to oil, creating a grey film with rainbow effect on the surface.
At Basildon Magistrates' Court yesterday company bosses pleaded guilty to causing poisonous, noxious or polluting matter to enter Basildon brook.
They were also handed a a £5,000 fine for that and a further £2,000 for failing to comply with the duty of care to prevent an escape of waste by failing to take all reasonable measures as stated in section 34 of the Environment Act 1990.
They were ordered to pay £2,152 costs.
Published Friday June 18, 2004
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