Quick response from school workers stops oil spill polluting the Chess

AN investigation has been launched by police into an oil spillage at the Royal Masonic School in Rickmansworth last Friday, believed to be the work of vandals.

A week after the Chorleywood Road school closed for the summer holidays, officers were called to the site at 8pm after the valve of a 25,000 litre diesel storage tanker was opened.

Oil gushed out of the container - situated in the school grounds and used to store oil for the boiler - spilling on to the school car park and spreading into its grass banks.

Staff at the school reacted quickly to the incident and constructed a barrier of earth and sand to stop the leak spreading, although damage was caused to the road leading to the car park.

It is unclear how much oil was spilled, but a tanker brought in to suck up the oil by Three Rivers District Council's environmental officers mopped up more than 1,000 gallons.

A spokesman from the Environment Agency, which was alerted to the incident by the school, said the quick reaction of school workers prevented the oil from soaking into the ground and drifting into the River Chess.

She said: 'We were concerned that the oil might get into the ground water and into the River Chess, but the temporary barrier fortunately stopped the oil going off site.'

The spillage was brought under control by the early hours of Saturday morning, although the area was monitored by environmental officers throughout the weekend.

All the oil has now been cleared.

Damage caused by the incident is expected to cost the school thousands of pounds, although this should be recouped from insurance.

School bursar Mr Ian Mackenzie said: 'We've carried out a full assessment.

'We're going to have to replace part of the road because the oil reacted with the bitumen. That's going to cost us a lot of money.'