A haulage company must pay £12,000 in fines and costs after breaching animal waste transport rules on three separate occasions when foul-smelling carcasses or fluids were spilled on a road.

Kintore Transport Haulage was before Bradford Magistrates’ Court yesterday for not complying with animal by-product requirements, by failing to ensure waste was carried in a covered leak-proof container or vehicle.

It admitted all three charges.

The court heard that on the afternoon of April 21, 2012, a lorry driver had to brake suddenly and waste he was carrying splashed on to Rooley Avenue at the Staygate roundabout in south Bradford.

Although the waste was covered with secured tarpaulin, there was a tear in the material.

Prosecuting on behalf of Bradford Council, Harjit Ryatt said the spillage led to a lot of traffic disruption.

The Council was called by police and when officers arrived they found waste stretched along the road for about 15 metres.

The driver told police he had made an emergency stop and because the tarpaulin was weakened by the tear, it did not hold back the waste.

“The officers confirmed that when they attended, they had great difficulty breathing, given the great stench that was coming from the waste in the highway,” Mr Ryatt said.

“To be fair to the company, once they were notified of that accident, they did send out a team to clear the waste that had been spilt.”

On October 10, 2012, at Hard Ings roundabout in Keighley, more road delays were caused after another spillage, Mr Ryatt said.

“Again there was a significant amount of offal which was discharged from the vehicle,” Mr Ryatt said.

Again the driver said he was forced to make an emergency stop.

The court heard that there had been a lot of water in the load, but Mr Ryatt said the driver should have made sure he opened drain tracts to release the excess liquid before he set off.

On October 29, 2012, a motorist called the council after he passed a lorry parked on the brow of a bend, near a hill, on Haworth Road.

“As he drove by he saw a large amount of orange coloured liquid, as he described it,” Mr Ryatt said.

Mitigating, Rob Rode said a lorry driver had stopped when he realised the vehicle was leaking and fitted a ‘nappy’, a device patented by the company which can be placed to the back of a lorry to catch leakage.

Mr Rode said: “Kintore takes its role and responsibilities very seriously. It’s obviously distressed that it finds itself before the court. It fully complies with regulations and all staff are fully trained.”

He said the company, based in Halifax, admitted rules had been breached and had pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity.

Speaking about the first incident, he said: “The company believed that the tarpaulin was in an appropriate condition and would never have allowed the vehicle to be utilised if it wasn’t. It accepts entirely that that wasn’t the case.”

The company, which transports waste for the Leo Group, was ordered to pay costs of £6,000 and fined £2,500 for each of the first two charges and £1,500 for the third.

The court was told the company had reviewed its practices and increased the size of splash guards on lorries.

After the case, the Council’s strategic director for environment and sport Ian Bairstow said: “This case shows that we are determined to ensure that all companies transporting animal by-products should do everything possible to prevent their cargo from spilling onto the roads and streets of the district.

“People should not be subjected to this sort of material lying around and creating a health hazard because the company involved has not taken all possible steps to ensure that their transport is leak proof.”