Articles
Garage owner finally sees the light after 3 years By Bob Pillar, Petroleum Officer/Enforcement Officer (Safety), Devon County Council A Devon filling station owner has finally made his redundant site permanently safe, after 3 years, 2 prosecutions and 1 meeting with the Environment Agency. The garage is in a rural location near to Exeter, and on the main trunk road from Newton Abbot to Exeter and is passed by thousands of vehicles every day of the year, and also by holiday traffic leaving South Devon. It
apparently had been closed recently and there was a licence still in force on the premises, which was issued by Devon Fire and Rescue Service, who were the licensing authority up to July 2000. The garage dates from the early 30's and has five tanks on site, four
40
13,500 litres tanks used for petrol and one 22,500 litre tank used for diesel for the whole of its life. It was set up for self-service use and also had an HGV facility on the premises. The whole saga started for me in February 2001 when, as the Petroleum Officer, I visited the site. From that first visit it was clear that the site had been abandoned although no work had been done to make it even temporarily safe. The tanks were unlocked, and still contained product, the dispensers were still in place and unlocked, and there was evidence of leakage on the site. One dispenser had a novel safety feature where one of the hoses had been removed; the hole had been capped with a Coca-Cola bottle top! Apparently not an approved modification! This then started the ball rolling and after numerous letters and thinly veiled threats to the licensee and then the owner of the site,
who was one and the same person. No correspondence was ever answered, even that which was delivered by hand to his home address. Finally the threat of issuing an Improvement Notice was carried out on the 20th December 2001, giving the owner until the end of March 2002 to make the site permanently safe, by filling the 4 petrol tanks and removing all other equipment associated with the petrol installation. Surprisingly no work was done at the
