Legal Proceedings

The Heysham Refinery Depot The Heysham refinery depot covers an area of 32 acres, about ! mile north west of the refinery. It consists of 21 buried or semi-buried tanks with a total capacity of some 80,000 tons, together with associated pumphouses. Facilities exist for road and rail loading and drum filling. The depot handles light distillate fuel, gas oils and all grades of finished petrol and diesel fuel for road vehicles, which are brought in by rail from Stanlow Refinery, for redistribution by road. Crude on Tank Farm This area, which lies between the refinery and Heysham Harbour, consists of 16 buried tanks of about 5,000 tons capacity each. Twelve of these are used for storing crude oil; the remaining four tanks store fuel oil for delivery to coasters. The terminal facilities of the Stanlow to Heysham crude oil pipeline are located on this site. Finished Products Tank Farm The Finished Products Tank Farm to the east of the refinery provide storage for gas oil and fuel oils, together with modern facilities for loading block trains with these products.

HYDE The danger arISlOg from interconnected vent-pipes to underground tanks was well illustrated at Hyde (Cheshire) recently when a petrol 'tankwagon was discharging petroleum spirit into underground tanks situated on the forecourt of licensed premises.

Three underground tanks each with a capacity of 500 gallons had been installed prior to 1939 with an interconnected venting system terminating in a common ventpipe. At the time of the delivery the garage proprietor informed the tanker driver that he required 400 gallons of 100 octane petrol in the first tank which already held 70 gallons, and 700 gallons of 98 octane petrol in the second and third tanks in the ratio of 500 and 200. The petroleum spirit scheduled for delivery was contained in two compartments on the tankwagon, one holding 400 gallons and the other 700 gallons.

The tankwagon driver was unfamiliar with the lay-out of the six compartments on the particular vehicle from which the delivery was being made, consisting of five on the nearside of the vehicle and one towards the rear, and consequently he connected to the first tank the discharge hose from another compartment which contained 800 gallons of 95 octane petrol. At the same time he connected to the second tank the discharge hose from the compartment which contained the 700 gallons of 98 octane petrol, his intention being to place 500 gallons of the latter into the second tank and the remaining 200 gallons from this compartment into the third tank. In order to be in a position Harbour Coasters can be loaded at two berths on the north side of Heysham Harbour, and there are also facilities for bunkering other vessels using the harbour. The pontoon in Heysham Harbour was originally part of a 'Mulberry Harbour' used in the D-Day landings in France in 1944.

Services Provided by Trimpell Limited The function of TrimpeU Limited is to provide services in support of the manufacturing activities of both Shell and I.C.I. at 'the. Heysham site. It supplies these companies with coohng water, compressed air, electricity, civil engineerlOg, workshops and transport and commercial services. In addition, a fully equipped medical centre and fire station provide a 24-hours service. Canteens operated by Trimpell provide meals throughout the site.

The Trimpell Sports and Social Club situated in the centre of Morecambe provides comprehensive leisure for Shell man at Heysham. Equipped with extenSIve plaYlOg fields, a pavUion and clubhouse the club caters for the recreation and sporting activities of all its members.

control the flow of petrol from the compartment contain109 the 700 gallons, he positioned himself on the top of the tankwagon where he could operate the footvalve to cut off after the .delivery of 500 gallons as shown on his dIPStIck, thus leavmg the discharge of 800 gallons into the first tank unsupervised.

As a result a considerable quantity of petroleum spirit overflowed on to the .forecourt and into the town's drainage system. doubt exists as to the SOurce of the leak but the most. hkely explanation is that the cap on the ?f the tank had been removed preparatory to connect109 the hose from the tankwagon, and that as a of mterconnected venting system, petroleum SPIrIt found itS way from the first two tanks into the, third out of the open fill-pipe. Fortunately there were no serIOUS consequences.

proceedings were taken against the tankwagon drIver and the garage proprietor for contraventions of the Petroleum Spirit (Conveyance by Road) Regulations 1957 the Petroleum (Consolidation) Act 1928, the former bemg fined £10 and the latter £20. Since the incident the have been replaced by an installation more in keeping WIth present-day standards.

T?is type. of occurrence highlights the advisibility of havmg a sUItable means of identification associated with delivery sheet and the on the tankwagon, eIther by numbers or havmg an associated label denoting the octane rating near the outlet valve from each compartment.