Angry Falkirk residents are concerned as to how a major drinks company managed to "sneak" an extra 35,000 tonnes of whisky into its bond without permission. The Bonnybridge group is furious after a retrospective planning application from international alcohol firm Diageo to increase the amount of ethanol stored at its warehouse revealed the whisky was already on site.
The company has permission to store 90,000 tonnes of ethanol in the form of whisky at the Bonnybridge Bonds site and are looking to increase this to 180,000 tonnes. However, 35,000 tonnes of that permission is sought in retrospect, meaning the spirit is already there. The action group fear the 125,000 tonnes on site now, which equates to around 400,000 barrels of flammable alcohol, is being stored without hazardous consent and could pose a major fire risk.
Group member Adam Tarbert said, "We're not talking about Mickey Mouse stuff here. There is 35,000 tonnes of ethanol sitting there that not many people know about - how did they manage to put in this amount without consent? It's getting out of hand, now they want to increase the amount further. We're concerned by the extension of the place and wonder where they will stop. When Diageo built the original warehouse there was a blast zone for the 90,000 tonnes, but now they are increasing the alcohol but not the blast zone."
A Diageo spokesperson confirmed the company was applying for hazardous substance consent and commented, "The site is covered under the Control of Major Accident Hazards (COMAH) Regulations SI 1999/743 and we have permission with the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to store the alcohol. It recently came to light that, in addition to this, a hazardous substance consent was also required. We are liaising with Falkirk Council on this. We always recognise local residents concerns and anyone who has a particular problem they want to raise can contact us and we will address it."
