THE KILLSPILLS campaign have sent out a press release claiming we should be celebrating their advances in the battle against diesel spills, but from what we can see from their press release below, all they've managed to achieve is a nod from the Department for Transport (DfT) that they'll undertake a two-year study into the problem of diesel spills. We don't hold much hope. You can read the full press release below:
Diesel Spills Clean-Up Thanks to KillSpills
Thanks to the efforts of the KillSpills anti-diesel spill campaign, the Department for Transport (DfT) is to undertake a two-year study into the problem of diesel spillages and the most effective way of cleaning them up.
The KillSpills campaign, founded in 2003 to counter the menace of diesel spillage and particularly, the danger it presents to motorcyclists, say that this major step forward means that as an integral part of the DfT’s business plan, the project will produce guidance for Local Authorities and the Highways Agency to follow, so ending the confusing array of procedures and solutions currently adopted across the UK.
The culmination of six years campaigning by the KillSpills team in raising the profile of the diesel spill menace, the DfT study was finally agreed last week following a commitment from the British Motorcyclists Foundation and the Institute of Advanced Motorists to offer to ‘pump-prime’ the research project with a £10,000 joint donation. In practice however, such was the case presented by the KillSpills team that the DfT will now be funding the project entirely from their budget.
Stephen Edwards, the leader of the KillSpills campaign, said after the meeting “This is a fantastic outcome and another step closer to ridding the roads of diesel contamination. It is only through the long-term help of the BMF and more recently the IAM, plus the support of our dedicated volunteers, that we have been able to get this far and for this all this help and support I give my sincere thanks.”
For the BMF Foundation, Peter Laidlaw, BMF Director and BMF Foundation Trustee said: “The BMF Foundation was founded to support safety related projects in the interest of motorcycling and what could be better than this? We showed commitment and it has been rewarded with commitment from government. We can’t ask more than that.”
The DfT clean-up project is the latest stage in a campaign that has seen on-road demonstrations coupled to annual reports being presented to the Prime Minister in 10 Downing Street. It has also seen annual awards presented to companies or organisations that have excelled in their efforts to combat diesel spillages.
