Foul smelling slurry leads to road closure and investigation

Environmental authorities assure drivers the smell will be short term

A large pool of slurry forced the closure of a Fife road over the weekend after it sparked an environmental health investigation.

Officers from the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) are looking into the incident at Goathill Quarry near Cowdenbeath after motorists who drove their vehicles through it on Saturday reported a foul stench coming from their cars.

Police Scotland said it received a number of complaints about the substance at the road junction at the A909 and B925 near Mossmorran, and the road had to be blocked off in both directions by emergency services.

A spokesperson for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service said the discovery of the liquid, which covered a sizeable area of the road, sparked a full hazmat response, with appliances from Burntisland and Kirkcaldy called to the scene.

Firefighters were involved in the clean-up operation and washed down

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The organic material, thought to be a byproduct of whisky production, should be straightforward to remove from vehicles by washingin the normal way. SEPA

the road before handing the scene over to a representative from Collier Haulage, which has a recycling centre at the quarry site.

The spokesperson suggested the material appears to have been “low hazard vegetable distillery waste”, and posed no danger to the public.

Sepa said: “Officers joined colleagues from Police Scotland, the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service and Fife Council following reports of a thick black substance affecting the road junction at the A909 and B925, near the Mossmorran facility.

“Investigations are ongoing into the nature of the material.”

While that probe continues though, hundreds of drivers were left with an unpleasant aroma – and took to social media to air their concerns.

“Drove through it, also got car washed at car wash place and it still stinks,” one unlucky driver said.

Another said: “This has happened here before – took me over a week to get rid of the smell the last time, the council/sepa needs to get on top of this and fine the source.”

Yesterday afternoon, Sepa released a further update to try and reassure motorists affected.

“The organic material, thought to be a byproduct of whisky production, should be straightforward to remove from vehicles by washing in the normal way,” it added.

“Any odour, as with agricultural byproducts, is likely to be short-term.”

csmith@thecourier.co.uk

The slurry, believed to be a whisky byproduct, on the road near Mossmorran.