AN ABANDONED van leaking diesel has been discovered yards from the seat of a blaze that ripped through an old factory.

The discovery was made at the former OXO plant in Great Harwood, close to terraced housing in Windsor Road.

And residents have now called for the factory to be secured to stop children playing there.

"If just one spark had landed on it, it would have taken out people near there and surrounding houses too," said Janet Quinn, of Windsor Road.

PC Jason Manning said the van, which is due to be removed, was abandoned and the last known recorded owner said they did not own it any more.

The blue van, registration number F523 KBU, was parked near a wall with a fuel container dripping diesel from a hand pump on to the ground out of the open rear doors.

Mrs Quinn, 39, said it was the latest in a string of complaints about the factory that residents said has become a dangerous playground for children.

"I have four children. Two are of the age when they go out. They've been told not to go in there, but a lot of children do play in there.

"Since they took the gates off the main entrance there are lots of children running around playing and there have been quite a few fires.

"The site needs to be made secure so children can stop getting in there and people will stop leaving things like this. There were also four or five gas bottles strewn around the site as well.

"I've seen bigger children going into the empty factory. They'll be drinking, because you know what they are like.

"All it needs is one spark or some children playing there for it to go off, and anybody caught near it can say goodbye. It could kill somebody.

"It needs moving. We don't know how much fuel is in there, but it was dripping all over the ground. If it's full it would be a big blast. We have St Hubert's Primary school on Park Road just nearby as well.

"We don't know whose it is, but they need to found and made responsible."

Coun Peter Clarke, of Overton ward, said: "We've had a lot of problems with vandalism and children playing in there and this is very serious.

"Luckily when I went up to have a look it seemed to be nearly empty, but it appears to be a van with a 1,000 litre tank that was used to syphon diesel from other lorries because it had an electric pump."

PC Manning said: "The site is managed by Barnfield Construction and Hyndburn Council and Barnfield have sent a fax to the council to authorise them to move it.

"I don't think it was used for illegally syphoning diesel. We have told the council that it needs to be moved and the police have classed it as urgent."