Rugby Cement hit by £400,000 pollution fine, UK
Rugby Cement has been hit by a UK£400,000 fine after polluting homes in the town.
Cemex, who own the plant in Lawford Road, pleaded guilty at Warwick Crown Court today (Tuesday) to ’poor maintenance’, which led to dust clouds pumping out of the site and covering homes near the town centre.
The dust emissions from the controversial plant, which has long been the target of anti-pollution protesters, also covered cars as far as three miles away.
The court heard that a witness saw a door in the plant ’literally hanging off its hinges’, which then allowed a fine and coarse cement clinker dust to escape from the site and into the atmosphere.
Campaigners against Rugby Cement said the verdict, which was highly critical of the company’s ’sloppy attitude’, was the ’final nail in the coffin’ for the plant.
Cemex has once again apologised for the incident, which took place in October last year, but added that the fine was ’excessive’ and they will appeal.
Published under Cement News
