In court: Contractors fined £180,000 over diesel spill

Two contractors saw a combined fine of £180,000 levied against them after a diesel spill.

The contractors – Kier Construction and its subcontractor, BKP Waste And Recycling Ltd – were sentenced to the fine after admitting guilt over a pollution incident that saw 11,000 litres of diesel enter the groundwater.

Kier took the brunt of the fine, with £100,000 and an additional £30,300 in costs, and BKP Waste Recycling Ltd was fined £10,200 and paid £42,500 in costs.

In 2012, Kier Construction secured work from the Royal Bournemouth and Christchurch Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust to carry out redevelopment work at Christchurch Hospital. The construction giant, which had a record £3bn worth of contracts in 2017, then subcontracted BKP Waste And Recycling to drain and remove oil from the supply lines within the hospital grounds. Two years later, the oil drainage line leaked, in what was labelled a “poorly-made connection in the oil supply pipework”.

Both companies were prosecuted under the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2010, as the incident took place when those regulations were still in force.

Image credit: Alamy