A CHEMICAL company which leaked detergent into the River Cray, creating a wall of foam up to 15ft high, will have to pay more than £4,000 in fines and costs.

The foam spread from the company's premises in St Paul's Cray, down the Cray to the Five Arches lake, in Foots Cray Meadows, and beyond on June 8.

The London Soap and Chemical Company, based in Murray Road, St Paul's Cray, pleaded guilty to a prosecution brought by the Environment Agency at Dartford Magistrates Court last week. It was fined £3,200 and ordered to pay £989 in costs.

Peter Bilbrough, prosecuting, said the agency had received a report there was foam several metres thick on the river at St Paul's Cray at about 7am.

Officers went to the scene and followed the wall of foam to Ruxley Lake at Edgington Way, Sidcup, and onto the weir and lake at Five Arches. It eventually spread along the river for more than six-and-a-half miles. The court was told, while the foam did not have a major effect on the river's fish population, a significant number of sticklebacks were found dead.

The source of the pollution was traced to the London Soap and Chemical Company. It told agency workers a 1,000 litre container of detergent had split on May 30, followed by a second spillage, eight days later. The company apologised in court for the incident but said the foam was not toxic and was biodegradable.

It said it had reduced staff on the site because of trading difficulties but had co-operated with the agency and spent £1,700 on the clean up. It also spent £6,000 on work to ensure the incident is not repeated.

Bridget Harrington of Foots Cray Preservation Group said: "I hope it will show people who are careless with our natural resources they will be punished."

December 11, 2001 11:41