Diesel Spills - who deals with them

[Steve_T]

On my way into work up the A3 I passed a 1-2ft stripe of diesel which ran from where I joined the A3 at Tolworth (A240) all the way up to the Barnes turnoff (A306), so a few miles. Is there any agency responsible for sorting out these spills?

Thanks,

Steve.

[tigger1]

Police / HATO?

Don't lorries have to have locked caps fitted now that prevent diesel spills? Nasty stuff if you're on a bike...not great in a car.

[Steve_T]

I was on a bike, it's much more visible because you're sat higher up, plus you're obviously on the look out for it. There was so much of the stuff you could smell it. So much for locking caps eh!

[TPS]

On motorways hatos isu's or police may deal but on A roads i would say its down to the police or local council maintenance workers.however it does need someone to phone up and report the problem 1st in most cases or it could be a while before one of the above spotted it.lots of people probably drove by the spill you saw and no one bothered to phone up about it then hours later someone crashes.

Edited by TPS on Monday 20th November 11:52

[7db]

Call your local police station - they will route the inquiry to traffic or highways.

[Steve_T]

TPS said:

On motorways hatos isu's or police may deal but on A roads i would say its down to the police or local council maintenance workers.however it does need someone to phone up and report the problem 1st in most cases or it could be a while before one of the above spotted it.lots of people probably drove by the spill you saw and no one bothered to phone up about it then hours later someone crashes.

Edited by TPS on Monday 20th November 11:52

I called Kingston Police earlier today, got routed to the Met and was told Parkmans Fitzpatrick (tel. [phone] for future reference) were responsible for the road. Have called them and reported the incident, what they've done about it yet I don't know. It can't be an easy job to cleanup a few miles of the middle lane of the A3 though!

I think you're right that not many people call in, but if enough nuisance is caused in making these companies cleanup then there might be a bit more effort in prevention.

Steve.

Edited by Steve_T on Monday 20th November 13:30

[MR2Mike]

Would it be ok to use 999 to report something like this or do you have to try and find local plod number?

[Flat in Fifth]

MR2Mike said:

Would it be ok to use 999 to report something like this or do you have to try and find local plod number?

Another good reason why we ahould have a national easy to remember number for those occasions when "This is not an emergency right now but you do really need to know about this asap.

I think 999 in the circs would be OK. It's what was used when I encountered worst case of diesel spill I've seen.

Heavy set off from Barnsley heading towards West Midlands. His tank was not full but he had a home fabricated long range top up tank mounted behind the cab on the tractor unit. When he left barnsley he turned that tap on and the diesel drained into the main tank via a bodge to the fuel filler cap.

Of course he forgot to turn the tap off. I joined A38 just south of Burton on Trent and there was a massive stripe of diesel all the way down to the A5 junction, up to Muckley corner and then left onto the A461. We stopped him before he got to Walsall centre!

[andy zarse]

Ten years ago a German lorry spilt hundreds of gallons of Baby Oil on a section of the A22 between East Grinstead and Eastbourne. The road was slippery for about a year after but at least it smelt lovely.