Oil spill over 15 miles of A24 and M25 today

crosstownvamp · July 9

16,000 litres of oil spilled!

I was able to navigate around it no problem but I'm curious - will the driver and/or tanker operator get a fine?

And under what regulation "Driving without due care and attention" ? !
They were still scrubbing bits of the road at 3 p.m.

munckee · July 9

crosstownvamp said:

16,000 litres of oil spilled!
I was able to navigate around it no problem but I'm curious - will the driver and/or tanker operator get a fine?
And under what regulation "Driving without due care and attention" ? !
They were still scrubbing bits of the road at 3 p.m.

Environment agency have powers to force polluters to pay, the moment they arrive to start cleaning the clock starts on your bill.

CHRISB50 · July 10

The council have now said it wasn’t quite as much oil, but the damage is still as bad.

It took me around two hours to do a half hour journey back from work last night. I had to leave my car the other side of Dorking, to go and collect it around 7:30pm. Once the traffic had subsided.

The council reckon it will be up to a week to completely reopen the roads between Beare Green and J9.

J10-11 of the M25 is shut this weekend. Eek.

I’m just about to head to work now. Wish me luck!

BillDL · July 10

crosstownvamp said:

16,000 litres of oil spilled!
..... will the driver and/or tanker operator get a fine?
And under what regulation "Driving without due care and attention" ? !

The vehicle will be examined in detail. If it is shown that the driver didn't tighten something or ensure that it was tightened before embarking on the journey, he or she could be charged with carrying an unsafe load and any similar ancilliary offences. "Driving without due care and attention" may actually be a charge if it can be shown that the driver was in the position to see oil spilling from the vehicle but neglectfully didn't see it happening - quite tenuous though. If the spillage was due to a faulty mechanism, but not something the driver could have noticed or anticipated, you can be assured that the relevant traffic departments (Police and The Traffic Commissioner) will be examining all the maintenance and defect sheets for that vehicle and the others in the company's fleet, and if there is any neglect or failure to repair something that contributed to the spill or could have caused another spill, the company will be hammered hard and their operator's licence could be removed. There are also road traffic laws that relate to vehicles leaving deposits on the roadway and not cleaned up, much like building companies are obliged to hire scrubber trucks to continually clean up mud and dirt left by dumper trucks and construction vehicles moving in and out of the sites.

BigMonka · July 10

BillDL said:

...There are also road traffic laws that relate to vehicles leaving deposits on the roadway and not cleaned up, much like building companies are obliged to hire scrubber trucks to continually clean up mud and dirt left by dumper trucks and construction vehicles moving in and out of the sites.

Off topic to the original post, but @BillDL do you know why farmers don't seem to be accountable for leaving dangerous amounts of mud over the roads when tractors are coming and going at their busy times of year?

BillDL · July 10

BigMonka said:

BillDL said:

...There are also road traffic laws that relate to vehicles leaving deposits on the roadway and not cleaned up, much like building companies are obliged to hire scrubber trucks to continually clean up mud and dirt left by dumper trucks and construction vehicles moving in and out of the sites.

Off topic to the original post, but @BillDL do you know why farmers don't seem to be accountable for leaving dangerous amounts of mud over the roads when tractors are coming and going at their busy times of year?

They should be, but never seem to clear up the road. It's not only mud, there's also cow crap where they've moved a herd out of one field and along a road into another. I live at the end of suburbia where it becomes farm land and country roads, and it is common to see mud and crap left by tractors and cows. I can only assume this is overlooked by police and councils, and ignored by farmers, because they are "country roads" passing between farm fields where we have all learned to expect this kind of thing.

BigMonka · July 10

BillDL said:

BigMonka said:

BillDL said:

...There are also road traffic laws that relate to vehicles leaving deposits on the roadway and not cleaned up, much like building companies are obliged to hire scrubber trucks to continually clean up mud and dirt left by dumper trucks and construction vehicles moving in and out of the sites.

Off topic to the original post, but @BillDL do you know why farmers don't seem to be accountable for leaving dangerous amounts of mud over the roads when tractors are coming and going at their busy times of year?

They should be, but never seem to clear up the road. It's not only mud, there's also cow crap where they've moved a herd out of one field and along a road into another. I live at the end of suburbia where it becomes farm land and country roads, and it is common to see mud and crap left by tractors and cows. I can only assume this is overlooked by police and councils, and ignored by farmers, because they are "country roads" passing between farm fields where we have all learned to expect this kind of thing.

That’s my experience too, which is what made me ask the question. We had some serious near misses here the other day when a farmer had dragged mud all over the road just outside a village and then it started raining as it got dark - lots of cars skidding on it all evening!
There’s also a farm near here where one of their tractors drips oil. It is so clearly theirs as you can follow the trail of oil from their field to the farmhouse

Funkfingers · July 10

Another farmer/landowner favourite is mechanically trimming roadside hedges, then, leaving much of the debris scattered on the public highway.

ESBlonde · July 10

BigMonka said:

BillDL said:

BigMonka said:

BillDL said:

...There are also road traffic laws that relate to vehicles leaving deposits on the roadway and not cleaned up, much like building companies are obliged to hire scrubber trucks to continually clean up mud and dirt left by dumper trucks and construction vehicles moving in and out of the sites.

Off topic to the original post, but @BillDL do you know why farmers don't seem to be accountable for leaving dangerous amounts of mud over the roads when tractors are coming and going at their busy times of year?

They should be, but never seem to clear up the road. It's not only mud, there's also cow crap where they've moved a herd out of one field and along a road into another. I live at the end of suburbia where it becomes farm land and country roads, and it is common to see mud and crap left by tractors and cows. I can only assume this is overlooked by police and councils, and ignored by farmers, because they are "country roads" passing between farm fields where we have all learned to expect this kind of thing.

That’s my experience too, which is what made me ask the question. We had some serious near misses here the other day when a farmer had dragged mud all over the road just outside a village and then it started raining as it got dark - lots of cars skidding on it all evening!
There’s also a farm near here where one of their tractors drips oil. It is so clearly theirs as you can follow the trail of oil from their field to the farmhouse

Farmers are liable to clean up after them. My grandfather was a farmer and told a story of a neighbouring farmer who was prosecuted for leaving mud on the road (1960s) and successfully defended saying he hadn’t had time or opportunity to conduct the clean up. He swore he would never defend again, the legal costs of winning was more than the fine would have been!

Kittyfrisk · July 10

BigMonka said:

BillDL said:

BigMonka said:

BillDL said:

...There are also road traffic laws that relate to vehicles leaving deposits on the roadway and not cleaned up, much like building companies are obliged to hire scrubber trucks to continually clean up mud and dirt left by dumper trucks and construction vehicles moving in and out of the sites.

Off topic to the original post, but @BillDL do you know why farmers don't seem to be accountable for leaving dangerous amounts of mud over the roads when tractors are coming and going at their busy times of year?

They should be, but never seem to clear up the road. It's not only mud, there's also cow crap where they've moved a herd out of one field and along a road into another. I live at the end of suburbia where it becomes farm land and country roads, and it is common to see mud and crap left by tractors and cows. I can only assume this is overlooked by police and councils, and ignored by farmers, because they are "country roads" passing between farm fields where we have all learned to expect this kind of thing.

That’s my experience too, which is what made me ask the question. We had some serious near misses here the other day when a farmer had dragged mud all over the road just outside a village and then it started raining as it got dark - lots of cars skidding on it all evening!
There’s also a farm near here where one of their tractors drips oil. It is so clearly theirs as you can follow the trail of oil from their field to the farmhouse

Naaah, that would never happen.
It rained & cleaned the road before the police could investigate.
Not that they would have anyway...

BillDL · July 10

Hmmmm. That's looks fishy to me @Kittyfrisk. As though you towed a damaged car there and took some photos

Kittyfrisk · July 10

BillDL said:

Hmmmm. That's looks fishy to me @Kittyfrisk. As though you towed a damaged car there and took some photos

Yeah, you got me bang to rights Guv, guilty as charged but society is to blame...

crosstownvamp · July 11

Road still being cleaned this evening though I imagine it's open during peak hours. That will be one hell of a monster fine.

Cols · July 11

crosstownvamp said:

Road still being cleaned this evening though I imagine it's open during peak hours. That will be one hell of a monster fine.

Not just being cleaned - they’re having to resurface the whole stretch which was affected. It’s a major job.

crosstownvamp · July 11

Cols said:

crosstownvamp said:

Road still being cleaned this evening though I imagine it's open during peak hours. That will be one hell of a monster fine.

Not just being cleaned - they’re having to resurface the whole stretch which was affected. It’s a major job.

Yeah I spotted two resurfacing machines and thought they were just road rollers. At a wild guess the cost must be half a million or more by now.

LionAquaLooper · July 11

Is it just me or was this whole thing missing from BBC news?

CHRISB50 · July 12

LionAquaLooper said:

Is it just me or was this whole thing missing from BBC news?

Yeah I don't think it has made it to the BBC.

This is the latest from the council...

A24 Beare Green to Leatherhead northbound diesel spillage - Surrey County Council (surreycc.gov.uk)

It's not going to be back to relative normality for me until next Thursday. When the northern stretch is fully reopened Which is annoying as my office days are Mon / Tues and Wed. I don't think the entirety of the resurfacing work will be done until Monday week.

The full closure of the south bound part has really cocked up Dorking. You can now only use the A25 to get out of town, either east or west. North and south routes on the A24 are completely shut. There's a set of temporary signals (that were there before all this started) by Pixham. heading towards Reigate. That means traffic in the High Street is solid most of the time. And that south bound traffic on the stretch of the A24 that's still open get stuck in the same queue.

The M25 is shut this weekend which should make things even worse. It's not our stretch this time, but it's the next one on. It definitely won't help.

We're lucky that we live in the centre of town, and can walk everywhere. For people that need to use the car a lot this whole thing must be a complete nightmare.

I'm still wondering what the outcome will be for the person / company that caused all this. The effect of it is massive.

robgilmo · July 12

Just an every day thing for us Land Rover drivers. You wanna see the oil slick on my driveway.

Cols · July 12

LionAquaLooper said:

Is it just me or was this whole thing missing from BBC news?

They did eventually notice.

Oil spill repairs on A24 to continue for 10 days

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cydvj12qldno

10 days to fix. I’m assuming the lorry driver is getting a bit more than a stern telling off.

CHRISB50 · July 12

The local rumour mill is going now.

Apparently the driver has been arrested.

He had a collision with something around Beare Green. That caused the leak. He then carried on going.

If true, what a fucking prick. I hope they throw the book at him.

BillDL · July 12

He obviously thought he was pretty slick.

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Oil spill over 15 miles of A24 and M25 today

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