A SCRAPYARD boss who allowed oil to seep into part of the River Crouch has been ordered to pay £18,100 after a successful prosecution by the Environment Agency.
Dean Fewings, 41, who runs a breakers' yard at Pudsey Hall Farm, Pudsey Hall Lane, Canewdon, was fined £5,000 by Harlow magistrates with £8,100 costs to the Environment Agency and £5,000 towards the clean-up operation.
The court was told the leakage of oil from his property into the tributary of the river at Canewdon went on so long it spread 650m along the stream and needed a six-month operation to clean it up.
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Environment Agency officers were alerted to the pollution after oil was seen in the water last March.
They found a discharge pipe and took samples of the water both upstream and from the pipe itself.
Anne-Lise McDonald, prosecuting, told the court the oil was traced back to Fewings's yard where drainage equipment was found to contain significant amounts of oil.
Returning in May, officials found a ditch which was heavily contaminated with diesel and a heavy lubricating oil.
On May 18 last year officers returned with Anglian Water CCTV cameras, which traced the oil to Fewings's property.
The case was the second agency prosecution of Fewings in six months.
Fewings admitted a charge of causing poisonous or polluting material to seep into a tributary of the River Crouch at Canewdon.
However, speaking after the hearing, Fewings said measures had been now put in place to tackle the problem.
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