SAFETY watchdogs today claimed a chemical company had "got off lightly" after a judge fined it £20,000 for causing a poisonous gas leak.

Nipa Laboratories was also ordered to pay £54,391 costs by Burnley Crown Court for offences relating to a cloud of sulphur dioxide and hydrogen chloride, which escaped from the former Cocker's factory in Nook Lane, Oswaldtwistle, in May 1998.

Thousands of residents were told to stay indoors, police received about 400 calls and one local woman needed hospital treatment.

The court heard it was the worst poisonous gas leak in the North West since current records began in 1990.

Hyndburn magistrates - who had the power to fine the company up to £120,000 - heard the evidence last year and committed the case to Crown Court because they believed their sentencing powers were not sufficient.

The Environment Agency, which brought the case jointly with the Health and Safety Executive, today said it was "disappointed" that the sentence was not higher - and backed government ministers who want to see increased fines for companies who pollute.

The leader of Hyndburn Council, Coun Peter Britcliffe, said Nipa had "got off very lightly" and said that the authority's Nipa liaison panel, set up in the aftermath of the leak, would keep a firm eye on the company to ensure there was no repeat of the incident.

The company - which made profits of £1.4million last year from its Oswaldtwistle site alone - admitted failing to ensure employees' safety, failing to ensure public safety, failing to provide adequate staff training, failing to keep equipment in good repair, allowing the release of hydrogen chloride and sulphur dioxide and allowing offensive smells to escape.

The judge chose not to change the sentence he handed down - even after it was pointed out he had overlooked the fact that the gas leak was not Nipa's first pollution offence at its Oswaldtwistle site. Recorder Arthur Noble said the accident would not have happened had it not been for process operator Paul Rowe, who overrode a safety device before lying and tampering with equipment to cover his tracks.

But he said a second failsafe device which should have prevented the leak did not work because it had been wrongly installed.

Some employees had not been shown safety guidelines and there were no training records for the process operators.

Mr Noble said Nipa was not a "cowboy" company but said it should have foreseen the problems which allowed the leak to happen.

A Health and Safety Executive inspector said a hazard assessment carried out for the company had been "incompetent".

The court had earlier heard Nipa had admitted exceeding permitted levels of pollution into Hyndburn's river system following an incident at Oswaldtwistle in 1995. In that case the firm was fined £12,500 and ordered to pay costs of £120,000 by Preston Crown Court, which allowed some of the costs to be paid from the public purse.

Nipa site director Armas Best said: "We were at fault and have apologised to our neighbours.

"Since the incident we have developed a more open relationship with them.

"We regard this unfortunate incident as a turning point and are working to ensure nothing similar happens in future."

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