AN animal feed manufacturer with a previously unblemished record was fined £10,000 for a discharge into a river last year which wiped out more than 600 fish.

Blackburn magistrates heard that the August incident had been caused as a result of the company's diligence in avoiding the spread of foot and mouth during the epidemic that gripped the Ribble Valley during 2001.

And the court was told that, as well as offering to re-stock Worston Brook, B Dugdale and Son Ltd had also taken measures to prevent a recurrence in the future.

The company, of Bellman Mill, Salthill Industrial Estate, pleaded guilty to permitting polluting matter to enter controlled waters.

As well as the fine the company was ordered to pay £1,527 costs.

Estelle Palin, prosecuting on behalf of the Environment Agency, said that 96 brown trout had been among the 600 fish, mostly bullheads, found dead in a 500 yard stretch of the brook.

The open mouths and flared gills of the creatures indicated suffocation and tests showed there had been little or no effect on invertebrate life in the water.

The cause of the suffocation was an increase in solid, organic waste washed into the brook from an overflow from the drainage system inside Dugdales.

"This was classed as a category one incident with severe damage to the fish population," said Miss Palin.

Stephen Barker, defending, said the company fully accepted liability, although he argued that little blame could be attached to it.

He said the drainage system in the mill had been designed by the local authority and North West Water at the time the Salthill Estate was built after consultations with the company about their requirements and water usage.

Following the incident, when a foul sewer had backed up causing waste to pass over a weir in the drain and into the stream, the company had paid for a closed circuit TV camera investigation which revealed a blockage in the foul sewer.

Mr Barker said that during the foot and mouth epidemic the company had been extremely diligent in the washing of vehicles coming into and out of the yard because of the agricultural nature of the business.

Mr Barker said the company had been in existence for over 150 years, had an exemplary record and was proud of its reputation.