A BREWERY company has been fined £15,000 by the Environment Agency for polluting a tributary of the River Ribble.

Interbrew UK Limited were also ordered to pay £867.15 costs at Preston Magistrates Court this week.

The court was told that Interbrew has formal permission from the Environment Agency to discharge contaminated drainage into a tributary of the River Ribble.

The consent was granted with conditions to protect water quality and reduce the risk of pollution.

But Jane Morgan prosecuting said in recent years the effluent discharged at Interbrew's site in Cuerdale Lane in Samlesbury failed to meet those conditions.

Samples taken by the Environment Agency revealed the discharge from the site contravened the conditions on several other occasions and Interbrew were prosecuted in July 2002.

On January 22 this year, Phil Williams, an officer for the Environment Agency, visited the site to take samples.

The court was told he noticed a strong smell of beer at the outlet and that the discharge was slightly foaming.

When samples were analysed they were found to be in breach of the conditions set by the Agency

The discharge was said to be of a kind that reduces oxygen levels in water and therefore was harmful to fish.

A representative from Interbrew said the problem had been caused by a damaged pump seal.