The leak of 150,000 litres of petrol and diesel from an underground Esso pipeline at Manton last month was “an extremely dangerous incident”, Marlborough town councillors were told last night (Monday).
Wiltshire fire crew manager Carl Barber, reporting to the council on incidents in 2014, revealed that Wiltshire Fire Service was called in last month when the siphoning off of fuel was discovered.
“I can’t given too many details except to say that it was an extremely dangerous incident involving a highly pressured pipeline. That required 32 hours of our attendance.
“It is not, to my knowledge, the first case of its kind but it is, to my knowledge, the first case of its kind within our boundaries. Nationally it hasn’t been done before.”
He added that the Fire Services were alerted by the police when it was discovered that petrol was leaking from the underground pipeline linking Esso’s Fawley refinery, near Southampton, to the Birmingham Fuels Terminal.
“Seven appliances were called in while they isolated and dealt with the issue,” he added.
Shelley Parker, Marlborough’s town clerk, told Marlborough News Online that the council were made aware of the petrol leak initially more than a month ago and that Action on the Kennet (ARK) were also aware of the incident.
“At that time the fact that thieves had drilled down and tapped into the underground pipeline was just a rumour,” she pointed out.
“One of our grounds team is a retained firefighter and he mentioned it to us. All of the councillors knew and Charlotte Hitchmough of ARK knew too.
“But that was as much of what we were aware at the time.”
Euro elections focus attention on 25,000 Swindon and Wiltshire jobs at risk if Britain leaves the EU
