Stolen fuel waste trailer abandoned near Castlewellan

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-22590718

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A stolen lorry trailer filled with illegal fuel waste has been dumped at the side of a road near Castlewellan.

The high-sided trailer was left at the Dublin Road between Castlewellan and the nearby hamlet of Kilcoo.

The contents have been slowly leaking onto the roadside since the trailer was abandoned on Friday.

Disposing of the material will fall to Down District Council. It is thought the cost will run into tens of thousands of pounds.

Alliance councillor Patrick Clarke described those responsible as "reckless criminals who have no regard for the environment or public health and safety".

'Dumped'

"The dumping of illegally laundered fuel waste is costing ratepayers thousands of pounds every year by Councils having to remove the waste and these sums are coming straight from the rates of local people," he said.

"There was absolutely no regard whatsoever for the environment or the public health and safety of local residents living near the Dublin Road.

"There is obviously a market for cheap petrol and diesel due to the present high prices at the petrol forecourts, but people unknowingly purchasing cheap fuel are only lining the pockets of criminals who are laundering illegal fuel then are dumping the fuel waste."