The UK Environment Agency recently brought the first prosecution under the Control of Pollution (Oil Storage) Regulations 2001, fining the boat hire company £9,500 (around $A22,800) with additional costs after it pled guilty to two counts of non-compliance with the regulations and causing a pollution incident after warnings.

Environment Agency officers said that had the company acted on its recommendations, it was likely the pollution incident would not have happened.

“With a number of other prosecutions for non-compliance in the pipeline we hope this will send a clear message to businesses that they can not ignore this piece of legislation,” the agency said.

The Oil Storage Regulations for England were introduced in 2001 to reduce the number of oil pollution incidents by improving standards of oil storage.

Following a phased introduction, the regulations became fully operational in September 2005. It is now an offence to use oil storage facilities that do not comply with the requirements of the regulations.

Environment Agency water quality policy advisor Phil Chatfield said: “I know that there are still sites where oil storage does not meet the requirements of the regulations. Where this comes to our attention, we will advise site owners of the steps they need to take to prevent pollution and comply with the law.

“In this case failure to carry out the work we advised resulted in water pollution. In the first prosecution of its kind, penalties were imposed not only for the pollution offence, but also for two charges of failing to comply with the regulations, each of which attracted a fine of £1,000.”

The Environment Agency said the new regulations appeared to be working as the number of oil pollution incidents in the UK during 2005 fell below 4000 per annum for the first time since oil pollution recording began.