A HAULAGE company has been fined thousands of pounds after pleading guilty to polluting the River Weaver Navigation with oil.

DJM Logistics (UK) Ltd, of Winsford Industrial Estate, was fined £15,000 and ordered to pay £4,633.84 costs to the Environment Agency by Vale Royal Magistrates Court.

The oil spill was reported to the EA on September 23, 2005, when it was discovered that 5,000m of the River Weaver Navigation had been affected, from the Winsford end and as far downstream as Hunt's Lock.

Because of the significant pollution the oil caused, British Waterways had to carry out a major clean-up of the river. Public footpaths were temporarily shut and the river itself had to be closed to boats for more than two weeks. A number of swans were affected by the oil and were subsequently treated by the RSPCA.

Following investigations by the EA the origin of the oil spill was traced back to DJM Logistics (UK) Ltd. It was caused as a result of work the company had arranged to be carried out by a contractor to remove furnaces from a boiler room and which involved removal of a disused oil fuel tank.

A prosecution of that contractor was adjourned on Friday by magistrates until next month.