AN acidic gas cloud was discharged over Oswaldtwistle after an electrical fault closed down a cleaning process at Nipa Laboratories.

Blackburn magistrates heard that hydrogen chloride and sulphur dioxide spewed from the plant untreated for a total of nine minutes as an operative failed to take the appropriate action.

But Nipa claimed it was a lack of confidence rather than a lack of training that caused the operator to waste seven minutes.

Nipa Laboratories Limited, of Hayes Road, Cadishead, Manchester, pleaded guilty to two offences of failing to comply with conditions of a granted authority arising out of the incident on November 26, 1998. They were fined £5,000 on each and ordered to pay £11,290 Environment Agency costs. A third charge, alleging a similar breach of conditions on December 31, 1998, was withdrawn.

William Rankin, prosecuting on behalf of the agency, said the toxic gases had not been released in sufficient quantities to cause any long-term problems. But he read from statements made by people living 500 metres from the plant. One told how she could see the smoke coming towards her and suddenly her chest started to get tight, her eyes were stinging and she could hardly breathe. Another told how the gases hit the back of his throat making it feel very raw. "It must have been a frightening experience to see this chemical cloud coming towards you and then to have a breathing problem," said Mr Rankin.

When interviewed by the Environment Agency the operator revealed that he had no formal training in the procedure that should have been adopted.

Andrew Dawson, for Nipa, said that had the operator taken the appropriate action the discharge would have lasted for only two minutes. He said it was a lack of confidence on the man's part and not a lack of knowledge that had lead to the mistake.

But Mr Rankin said the operator claimed in interview that while he knew it was possible to cross over the pumps he had not been shown how to do it.

To put the discharge in perspective, Mr Dawson revealed that Nottingham Power Station discharges 309 tonnes of sulphur dioxide a day and 36 tonnes of hydrogen chloride.

"What we have here, in terms of 24 kilograms, is a drop in the environment ocean," said Mr Dawson. The court heard that Nipa had been prosecuted for a similar incident which occurred in May of 1998 and had been fined £20,000 with £54,000 costs by Burnley Crown Court in January of this year.

Passing sentence stipendiary magistrate Jonathon Finestein said Nipa had installed the two-tank system as an improvement and there was no question of them ignoring any warnings.

But he said that the lack of confidence referred to by the defence boiled down to a lack of training.

"No matter how Nipa skirt around it, their employees were not sufficiently trained or conversant with the correct procedures directly following the tripping of the pump," said Mr Finestein. "The staff were not able to quickly efficiently and properly deal with the situation that arose. I accept that no individual was put at risk, there is no evidence of long-term harm, but it must have been a very frightening experience."