A BUILDERS' merchant has been fined for concocting his own fungicide and selling it under his trading name.

Craig Driver, trading as Haver Building Products, Bristol Works, Mount Street, Accrington, pleaded guilty to supplying a pesticide - used to treat fungi - which had not been approved by the Health and Safety Executive..

Driver, who is separated from his wife, had been buying the chemical Acticide 50X as a raw material and diluting it by 40 times with water to make 'Haver's Fungicidal Wash', Hyndburn magistrates were told.

Nicholas McNamara, prosecuting on behalf of Lancashire County Council trading standards department, said that they became aware of the product in February last year. There had been no field trials to ensure it was not a hazard.

It was being used for the treatment and prevention of mosses, lichens, algae and all types of fungi.

Trading standards officers visited Greengates Builders' Merchants, in Whalley Road, Accrington, and discovered that they had been buying containers of the fungicidal wash for approximately two years.

Driver was later interviewed by trading standards officers and said he had been producing it for three years.

He said he had withdrawn the product from sale since the visit to Greengates.

Bernard Horne, defending, said: "This is simply a case of not understanding what was required of him.

"He is a sole trader at small premises in Accrington. The main thrust of his business is as a builders' merchant. This product was very much a sideline.

"He was totally unaware of what he was selling would be classed as a pesticide. He was not manufacturing it on a large scale. He bought the raw material, watered it down and sold it on.

"He never thought by supplying it that he would need a licence.

"He has made inquiries about getting the appropriate licence but it is not financially viable on the scale he was selling it. He was never putting anyone in any sort of danger by selling this product."

The bench took into account Driver's early guilty plea and the relatively small scale of his operation and fined him £500 with £305 costs.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.