A CAR dealership has been ordered to pay almost £40,000 after an oil spill killed wildfowl and polluted a seven kilometer stretch of the River Wye.

Sytner Ltd, which owns the BMW dealership in London Road, High Wycombe, pleaded guilty to polluting the river in April 2011 at Aylesbury Magistrates Court yesterday.

The company was fined £27,000, ordered to pay costs of £12,711.54 and a victim surcharge of £15 – a total of £39,726.54.

Magistrates were told that a failure to maintain and clear an oil interceptor at the Wycombe Marsh garage led to an oily substance leaking into the River Wye for 12 hours on April 3, 2011.

Twelve birds, including six ducklings, died and 14 more - including a pair of breeding swans - were caught and treated by Swan Lifeline, RSPCA and Tiggywinkles Wildlife Hospital.

Investigators from Thames Water and the Environment Agency traced the source of the pollution to manholes within the Sytner site to the interceptor – which separates oil from water as it enters the drainage system so the oil can be disposed of safely.

Booms were deployed in the River Wye to contain the oil and tankers were brought onto the site to empty the affected manhole chambers.

Contractors were called in to jet clean the drainage system beneath the dealership.

The court heard that employees of Sytner Ltd were unaware of the device so it had not been emptied, cleaned or maintained.

Sytner Ltd employees were also seen emptying buckets containing disinfectants directly into the drainage system by agency officers, indicating a lack of training and supervision of staff, the court was told.

Environment Agency officer Claire Bale said: “We expect all companies to comply with regulations and act within the terms of any permits granted to them in order to minimise environmental risk.

“Had Sytner Ltd done so, the pollution and resultant prosecution could have been avoided. We are always available to provide free advice regarding pollution prevention and environmental responsibilities.”

In handing down their judgement, Magistrates highlighted the damage the leak caused to wildlife, the extensive clean up and the fact the company were unaware of the interceptor.

Sytner Ltd has since put in procedures to ensure such an incident does not happen again, the Environment Agency added.

A statement from the firm said: "We are extremely regretful that in April 2011 oil residue was found in the River Wye.

"It was suspected that the pollution arose from a historic underground interceptor which we were previously unaware of and was therefore unfortunately missed during the routine emptying and maintenance of the other interceptors on our premises.
"As we had therefore not carried out our responsibility in terms of this maintenance, we pleaded guilty to the single charge brought from the Environmental Agency and were fined £27,000 plus associated costs.

"It was clearly not our intention to cause damage, pollution or harm to the local wildlife and we are, of course, deeply sorry for the event. As a company we have never been involved in an environmental issue of this nature and apologise for this genuine oversight and regrettable consequences.
"We co-operated fully with all the relevant authorities during their investigations and fully undertook the clean up operation, which has been successfully completed. We have since re-surveyed the site.
"We are very conscious of the environment and have been working in conjunction with the Revive the Wye Group supplying man-power to assist on an ongoing basis in the cleaning up of debris from within the river and associated banks in the Kingsmead area."