Waste company admits causing oil spill in city river
POLLUTION CAME TO LIGHT AFTER ‘NOXIOUS’ SMELL’ WAS REPORTED
THE Environment Agency is investigating a diesel leak from a Coventry City Council-owned waste company which saw a local river polluted.
The River Sowe runs through many areas of the city, including Longford, Bell Green, Wood End and Walsgrave.
Last month the Telegraph uncovered an oil spill into the river after city residents noticed a “noxious smell” coming from it in several parts of the city, including Longford Park.
We then received a tip-off claiming the source of the oil spill was Tom White Waste, which has a depot on Blackburn Road, Longford, close to the River Sowe.
The company was founded in the mid-1970s and was purchased by the council in March 2020 for close to £15m. A council spokesman at the time described the waste specialists as a “successful local business with sound environmental principles”.
However, upon learning of the recent spill, the company have admitted responsibility for it and say they are “reviewing procedures to try and prevent anything like this happening again”.
A spokesperson for the Environment Agency said: “The investigation is continuing and we are working with the company to ensure that they have sufficient procedures in place to prevent the pollution happening again. “The leak has been stopped and the company have undertaken a clean-up. “If people see any further pollution problems they should contact our 24/7 hotline 0800-80-70-60.”
A Tom White Waste spokesperson said: “We can confirm that there was a diesel spill from our depot on Wednesday, February 3, 2021 with some of the spill making its way into the River Sowe.
“We took immediate action to inform Severn Trent and the Environment Agency and we have been working closely with them on the clean-up. “We have a very good record of Environmental compliance, however, we treat issues like this seriously and will be reviewing all of our procedures to try and prevent anything like this happening again.”