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Drivers swerve to avoid spilled offal amid heatwave

Alex McIntyre,West Midlandsand
Stuart George,BBC Radio Stoke
Staffordshire Events Two piles of brown-coloured offal on a main road, just before a traffic-light controlled pedestrian crossing. Cars can be seen manoeuvring Staffordshire Events
A truck spilled a load of offal on Weston Road in Stoke-on-Trent

Residents have been left "distressed" and "fed up" after a large spillage of offal in Stoke-on-Trent.

Witnesses reported seeing animal carcasses after the spillage on Weston Road in the Meir area of the city at about 13:30 BST on Thursday.

People said the smell, worsened by the hot weather, was "terrible" and cars were having to swerve to avoid the offal.

Advanced Proteins, where the truck was travelling to, apologised and said it was caused by significant internal pressure, which caused the reinforced sheeting on the vehicle to fail.

Warning: This story contains images that some readers might find upsetting

Councillor Lauren Davison, who represents Meir North and Broadway on Stoke-on-Trent City Council, said: "Lots of residents have contacted me, really, really distressed by it, which is completely understandable. People are fed up by it."

She said it was not the first offal spillage in the area and it would happen every few months.

"I don't think it's ever happened to this scale," she told BBC Radio Stoke.

Darren Thys, co-director at community group Meir Matters, said he was at a nearby shop when he saw the wagon spill its load.

"It was really bad," he continued. "A lady came into the shop who had been physically sick on the pavement."

Staffordshire Events Cars drive onto the pavement by a main road, where there is a large pile of offal, including bodies of animals. A black car is turning left in front of us, with a white van on the kerb further down the road.Staffordshire Events
Cars were having to drive around the offal after the spillage

He added: "Cars were zig-zagging around there. It was just not nice and everyone knows Meir roundabout is one of the busiest in Stoke-on-Trent."

Thys said he could see several carcasses in the road, some of which were pigs, and described the smell as "terrible".

Allison Gardner, MP for Stoke-on-Trent South, said she had written to Leek-based Advanced Proteins, where the offal wagon was heading to.

She said Thursday's incident has caused disruption, adding: "As you can imagine in this heat, it has been distressing - but it's unacceptable in any weather."

House of Commons Dr Allison Gardner - a woman with long blonde hair and wearing a red coat over a black top - speaks while standing in the House of Commons. She has her left arm held slightly up and across her body, like a karate chop.House of Commons
Allison Gardner said the spillage was "unacceptable"

A spokesperson for Advanced Proteins said the firm was aware of the spillage, which it was notified of at 13:47 BST, and apologised for the "distressing incident".

"Regrettably, incidents of this nature are not intentional," the spokesperson added.

"In this case, significant internal pressure caused by gas build-up within the material led to failure of the reinforced sheeting, despite it being correctly secured."

They said a full review was being carried out to identify preventative measures that could be implemented to "mitigate the risk of recurrence under extreme conditions".

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