Though white phosphorus was used for murderous purposes in the form of rat poison, its availability in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries made it a ridiculously easy suicide choice.
One such example is told in the 8th October 1896 Morecambe Visitor and concerns a sailor called Harry Gill. Gill had been arrested for jumping ship, but had admitted to taking poison containing P4 on board the HMS Gossamer.
It does seem to have been a rather rash course of action for such a petty crime.
It’s been a while since we caught up with our old friend Tramp phosphorus aka Willy Peter who now hides in Rattlechain after fearing for his life from occasional visits from the Oldbury assassins from Trinity Street and then a group of Dutch men around 1o years ago. Luckily they weren’t volleyball players, so the local kids at least were safe.
We found the old scoundrel in surprisingly good form and now transitioning between solid and vapour state.
WLBRL So Tramp, we hear that you have been abroad recently, where did you go?
Tramp It all came as a complete surprise. I received a communique from President Macron himself! He apologised on behalf of the French People and the Fifth Republic for the actions of those blighters from Rhodia. I understand he gave Clamadieu a good dressing down after reading about my plight on your blog.
WLBRL Wow! That’s incredible news, we had Lord Langley read our blog and now a president, we are indeed honoured. So what parlez did he offer you?
Tramp It was a chance to play a part in the opening ceremony of the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad in gay Paris! He said he would fly me out there under water of course and would arrange for it to rain on the night so that I did not give off any garlic smells or spontaneously combust. The only snag was that I had to put on some blue face paint and a few assorted pieces of fruit to conceal my dignity. I said, “Emannie… (we’re on first name terms now), You just try and stop me.”
mesdames et messieurs?
WLBRL So you had a good meal then eh at the last supper?
Tramp Yes there was plenty of meat and two veg dished up by culinary chefs of Michelin status. The French do know how to put on a show. “Très Bien” and “Bon Apetit” I say. I was tempted to have a dip in The Seine, but they said it was too polluted already . LOL.
WLBRL Did you get a chance to hold the flame or carry a torch?
Tramp The plan was that I would link up with Tom (Cruise) at some point in the closing ceremony but it didn’t work out in the schedule. Emmie suggested that they would rename the “Tramps Elysees” in my honour and also give me the Doner.”
WLBRL You mean the Legion D’honneur – the highest merit honour in all of France?
Tramp. No, its called a “sandwich Grec” in Paris
WLBRL So what next, is it true that you are in training to take the place of Tom Daley in the pairs at Los Angeles in four years time?
Tramp Yes, I am practising on the pier at the moment and have completed a double pike with two twists. After LA 2028, everyone will always remember Willy Peter from Oldbury for being the spark that led to the greatest golden shower for GB ever!
WLBRL Well that’s fabulous , we hope it all goes well for you. À beintôt!
Earlier this week there was an announcement that read like an apocalypse had befallen The Walsall Canal with a “chemical spillage” considered so dangerous that 12 miles of surrounding connecting canal towpaths were closed and boat traffic shut off, effectively stranding anyone on a narrow boat from moving up or down three sets of locks.
As someone who is obviously acutely aware of the damage that chemicals can do in the environment and how these incidents destroy wildlife, I was very concerned about what had happened and feared the worst due to the measures being taken that the authorities were considered necessary. Other people were contacting me about the situation and were concerned about the effects on bird life on the canal system in the area.
What transpired was very poor information being released, particularly about WHAT chemical had been released into the canal, the circumstances and the QUANTITY and SOURCE, and the PATHWAY it had taken to reach the water.
It was all a bit vague but it appeared that multiple agencies were involved including Walsall Council, the CRT and EA as well as The bizarre UKHSA- formerly Public Health England. For some reason, they were very keen that people did not touch the water, eat any fish from the canal or walk along the towpaths.
Eventually it was claimed that Sodium Cyanide had entered the canal, but no source or company named. This chemical obviously rings alarm bells with the public as a deadly poison, although it is actually less poisonous than white phosphorus found in Rattlechain lagoon, and which of course was spilt liberally into the canal system on route from Trinity Street to Rattlechain via the upper BCN toxic trail route. Were the canals closed then, and the boats stopped? NO THEY WERE NOT AS BRITISH WATERWAYS AS THEY THEN WERE WERE TOTALLY COMPLICIT IN CAUSING THE POLLUTION AND ENCOURAGING IT, EVEN USING ALBRIGHT AND WILSON’S VILE SHIT HOLE THEMSELVES AS A MEANS OF DUMPING THEIR OWN DREDGINGS TO CONTINUE THE GHASTLY BOAT TRAIL POLLUTING SPECTACLE.
As for protecting public health, what a fucking joke when people involved in carrying the toxic waste by canal boat were harmed in the process, so what hope for any other bugger that touched or came into contact with the water, let alone any wildlife or fish?
Fast forward to 2024 and the Canal and Rivers Trust are now a charity and corporate PR brand. They are largely funded by fishing licences or fishing rights being sold and of course boat licences. The latter regularly cause widespread damage to wildlife with their toxic snail diesel and hydraulic oil releases- particularly in the Walsall area. Even recently this occurred and many birds died and yet no boats were stopped from moving by the CRT on some bloody “explorer cruise”- basically a jolly for elder people along a stretch of canal ending with a fish and chip supper at some pub. The hypocrisy could not be more stark, given that this particular incident did not effect any fish in the canal, just wildfowl.
The EA are of course a longstanding joke also, as I regularly evidence in my unfortunate dealings in reporting issues to these hapless, unknowledgeable and talentless individuals. They were and are happy with a bunch of wankers dumping toxic waste under water under a useless licence auspice, even pumping it back into the canal blissfully unaware that they were doing so given they have no means of testing the water for the toxic chemical, but when some fish deaths occur it is suddenly a red alert for them.
Enter the bullshit classification system they use, which I looked at HERE. Of course when fish die they claim a “category 1” incident. For other areas that have no fish and no fish deaths they don’t care- hence Rattlechain and also Smethwick Hall Park caused by Severn Trent Water’s sewage pollution and failure to trace and stop misconnections entering the water. The hypocrisy and interest over the money making source for the EA and CRT could not be more stark. Fish matter because they are keeping these individuals in jobs, birds are not, and that is the bottom line.
SODIUM CYANIDE- AN INFAMOUS POISON FROM THE PAST.
I have previously looked at this chemical and how “deadly barrels” of it were dumped in the early 1970’s leading to the authorities starting to take environmental dumping more seriously. The West Midlands served as a particular hotspot with National news running a series of scares about what had in reality been occurring for too long. Marl holes and tips and brooks were easy dumping grounds for “people of the road” paid by scum companies to deposit their waste with no questions asked. Tatters with tippers were a common menace.
Both Rattlechain and Gower Tips had dumpings, with Albright and Wilson feigning ignorance which I frankly do not believe.
The following information is given by The UKHSA.
Sodium/Potassium Cyanide General information.
Sodium/Potassium Cyanide Incident management.
The properties of cyanide mean that it produces highly toxic breakdown chemicals when in contact with water.
Sodium hydroxide and Hydrogen cyanide are produced, the later being a highly toxic and flammable gas.
Anochrome Limited- who are they?
Eventually and after an uncomfortable lack of information on the source, an electro plating company based a scant 100 metres from the canal were named. This industrial concern based in Reservoir Place, Walsall claims to have been operating on its website since 1946. It has three current directors, at least two of whom appear to be successors of a family line. Managing Director Mark Jones appears to have taken over from his father Andrew. Secretary Andrew Keery, and Robert Gray complete the triumvirate.
They have a number of subsidiary companies, including Wolverhampton Electro plating Limited based in Wolverhampton. It is of note that all three directors are now giving a care of address for this company rather than the one in Walsall. I take some interesting observations from this concerning the state of their finances and the future of “Anochrome limited” as an operation.
Historically, this company have form for polluting the environment via criminal negligence.
The 12th December 1978 Wolverhampton Express and Star reported how they had been fined a rather paltry £245 for cyanide and toxic metals going down the drains
In 1981, and via The Sandwell Evening Mail of 27th June , we see a repeat performance of this , on this occasion a whopping £280 for illegal trade effluent discharges including zinc. This particular metal is of concern as it is a neurological poison to wild birds and people and is very similar to lead poisoning in high levels in this regard.
In 1992 there was a fire sparking another chemical alert with two staff needing treatment.
Sandwell Evening Mail 23/5/92
A more recent event reveals this company were fined by The HSE for breaches under The Health and Safety At Work Act. This was in 2018.
Of course, the three directors are ultimately responsible for all that goes on here, all that goes wrong on their site and anything that occurs illegally or by “accident”
Their parent company in Wolverhampton also has form for health and safety breaches.
I am not certain if they are the electroplating company mentioned in THIS article concerning cyanide dumping, but it confirms the absolute lack of integrity of this industry at large in terms of failing to protect the environment and adhere to laws. Ultimately, they argue about quantities within “legal” limits. THE LIMITS OF COURSE SHOULD BE ZERO.
MY DIRECT OBSERVATIONS AND HEAD SCRATCHING ABOUT THIS INCIDENT BASED ON EXPERIENCE AND KNOWLEDGE OF THE ISSUES.
There are some questions and issues which do not make sense to me about this incident which almost made me question as to if it is a hoax and a multi agency training exercise, just to keep the public under fear about something which is not really there.
No “pandemics” or pollution spills stop the construction industry where politicians and their cronies have laid their nest eggs
Lettering has been removed from the building recently.
Ducks in the “deadly” water next to the “poisoned” fish
We live in an age of fear mongering, of “forbidden zones” and scenarios like the film The Village where instruction not to do something appears with asinine bellows of “you shall not pass”. It is the liberal left – those in the civil service, who appear to think we are fucking stupid and should not question their bizarre nonsensical diktats like not crossing a line of tape because The Emperor’s new calamity will befall us and to “trust the science” because that is unquestionable. Well it is questionable and I question it for the reasons stated above which do not add up. This is not “conspiracy” it is common sense, something which appears to have gone out of the window of late and is fuelled by a media clamouring for such events to report on. They should be questioning this as I am, but they don’t because they are crap and parrots of the New World Order that is being forged.
Many sections of the canal have now been opened back up, and it remains to be seen what will happen with the area still closed off and under scrutiny. 4,000 litres of chemicals were spilt according to the latest EA update, which is roughly about 22 baths worth. For the birds, they will carry on probably affected more by the boats that will now be moving again and spreading their shite as rainbows on the water. Will the CRT or EA care about that? So long as no fish are affected will they fuck.
Another polluted canal in Walsall, of the type of pollution that is not economically viable to draw attention to because no fish are affected.
WHO PUT NELLIE IN THE MARL HOLE?
The West Midlands region was famous for its Etruria marl pits, and those like Rattlechain were many across its towns. They were very dangerous places to work as we know, but also attracted many children who perished by misadventure after drowning in the flooded remnants. The Vono Lagoon very near to Rattlechain was one such more recent example.
Many of these industrial undertakings became abandoned before being bought by the very worst industrial dumping waste scumbags like Albright and Wilson. Most have now been lost to history and are now car parks and even housing estates hiding a sinister past of misery and despair. It is little wonder that the abandoned holes in the land were also magnets for suicide.
This occasional series will look at some of the stories behind these former marl holes, and if they can be identified, what remains of them today or what they became.
Between the wars there is no doubt that marl holes began to fade from brickmaking use. The 30th July 1931 Dudley Chronicle reported the death of a young woman named Nellie Colwell.
Nellie 21, was from Tividale and lived on The Dudley Road with her parents. The article states that she was found dead in “Sheldon’s marl hole”. This name rings immediate alarm bells in relation to The Lower City Road conman Sidney, who deliberately ran down brickmaking at Rattlechain post WW2 to sell off land. I aware that he had a brother, but not if there was a longer chain if you’ll excuse the pun of a family brickmaking dynasty. There is a little mystery however, and I doubt if this was Rattlechain brickworks marl hole as at this time at least, Rattlechain was still officially run by the sons of Samuel Barnett- at least in name. We also know that the pit was filled with water because she drowned, suggesting that this was an abandoned site not in use.
My best guess is that it refers to the Vono lagoon as it became or even the former sports pool where the Autobase carpark is now situated?
Her family worked at Edwin Danks , an Oldbury based boiler maker, and she herself had started work there from the age of 16. There are a few observations with this article and I will make them as we go along.
The presentation and subsequent phoney psychological term “neurasthenia” is typical of these fake psychotherapy quacks and the time. This is a time when shysters sold “nerve tonics” to poison people with, just as big pharma does now with their clot shot vaccines and antidepressants. Of course the whole psychiatry industry wants as many people as possible to have “mental illness” so they can diagnose falsely and prescribe more drug filth in greater doses. They are handsomely rewarded for this fraud by big pharma for every sucker they sign up and are reliant on hypochondriacs believing that they are “ill”.
It may well have been the case that Nellie was “depressed”, but there is no evidence presented that proves she committed suicide or drank or took any drugs before her death. This remember is at a time when swallowing white phosphorus poison, widely available, was a common form of suicide. The article and diagnosis by the coroner “she seems to have done away with herself” is also typical of a period where women were locked up for being non compliant or affected by some imagined mental illness. This third rate pillock was certainly no Quincy FFS! Where is the actual post mortem report, was she confirmed to have drowned based on physiological evidence?
I am not sure why if she committed suicide she would have gone to the trouble of removing her shoes or leaving anything behind? Could she swim? Maybe that is another question the coroner should have asked.
And so enter the token mystery man of letters whom the prat recording her death does not even attempt to identify or name or if she had ever met him in person. He could have lured her to her death, covered up the murder by dumping the body in the pit and staging the elaborate placing of belongings behind. Maybe I read too many detective novels. 😆
In conclusion it remains a mystery nearly 100 years later as to why Nellie Colwell died on her way to work. My own belief is that she did not intend to kill herself that day, but we will never know how she entered the marl hole or if there were any sinister events leading up to it. A marl hole would have been a good place to dump a body and claim a depressed young woman had killed herself. Someone may well have got away with murder.
It never ceases to amaze as to how incompetent Works management at B69 Phosphorus Towers really were, in stark contrast to the claimed diligence of a responsible industrial neighbour.
The claim of training with professional firefighters for emergency events and scenarios appears to have gone out of the window when they actually arose. I have taken a look at some of this in THIS POST. On this occasion they were instead watching a fire fighting video at Oldbury fire station instead of being present at their site itself!
Another farcical situation in this post demonstrates that whoever was in charge of sounding the alarm when the frequent fires occurred on this site was not competent at the job.
Just read this article from the 12th August 1995 Express and Star where the idiots thought that ringing for the fire brigade was better sent by fax. I rest my case.
With this shambles in operation at their main plant, did these yuppies really expect people to believe that their satellite hazardous waste dump down the road in Tividale was all hunky dory?
Copyright I Carroll
This is another post concerning the notorious Albright and Wilson WW2 artefacts produced by the Oldbury idiots for an anti-tank guerrilla warfare campaign that never transpired
I have looked extensively at the production, use and ultimate abandonment of these useless but highly dangerous white phosphorus filled half pint milk bottles. Over seven million of them were produced between 1940-42 at Oldbury and satellite factories , and then dispatched to Home Guard units around the country in wooden boxes of 24.
All came with clear instructions for use, and some later designs were made to be fired from a gun known as the Northover projector. Many were used for demonstrations and training, but by 1943 it was clear that they were useless for anything but gathering dust.
Numerous finds of these were found long after the war and still are being during building developments because fools on the home guard simply buried them. We do know however that the British State and AW conspired to dump these at Rattlechain lagoon under the cover of a “phosphorus waste” legend with the crap produced at Trinity Street.
This post deals with a one off incident find and is reported by The Hartlepool Northern Daily Mail dated 28th May 1965.
I’ve included the story and the pictures that go with it and a number of observations are apparent that suggest a similar pattern to other stories I have covered about AW bombs being discovered.
It is not clear to me if this bloke is even wearing gloves! Why go to the trouble of handling them under water- then blowing them up to scatter the phosphorus fucking everywhere? DICKHEAD
As per standard packing
It’s just a question of how many of them went into a clay pit in Tividale after the war under the cover of “a waste disposal site”.
So not for the first time have I set out on a quest to track down dirty polluting bastards!
On this occasion, I had noticed a diesel iridescence covering a section of the River Tame through Sheepwash Nature Reserve emanating from the direction of Oldbury. There have been many issues with this river and pollution from connecting brooks and watercourses over several years. An incident in 2020 via the Brades Brook – a Severn Trent Water asset polluted the Tame via a third party. Reaction was slow to say the least and we had to get involved with physical interventions that you hope would be dealt with by people whose job it is to look for pollution and stop it. Sadly it is becoming ever more clear to me as the water grows more contaminated that the Environment Agency are not a competent authority to carry this out.
Without doubt the most frustrating part of these incidents is the total lack of response from The Environment Agency. You are invited to ring their “incident hotline number” on 0800 80 70 60 to report such pollution incidents, yet it is increasingly clear to me that this number is a massive Government fraud, as due to the unfit for purpose Common Incident Classification Scheme, which I have looked at HERE, these reports are just shut down if they are classed as being “category three”, without any attendance whatsoever from the EA. If you persist, they may attend, but don’t bank on it.
The pollution arose overnight without warning and I saw it early on. It persisted for 5 days without intervention, and in this time I made many calls to the emergency number as well as Severn Trent without any effort made by them to stop it in that time. I suspected again the source to be the Brades Brook, but STW could not reach their asset due to me not being able to give a postcode or what three words location. Wasteland does not have a postcode, and in terms of reporting a three metre location, I would have to have been in the fucking river itself.
And that dear reader is unfortunately what I had to do. Setting out at West Bromwich Street, I could see the River at its source from Oldbury running clear. At The Gower Branch canal where it runs under, I could see it polluted- this being upstream of the Brades Brook and the receptors at the nature reserve. Maybe it is the job of the professionals to therefore track it down further, but obviously this was too great a challenge for them, with me already doing their job.
On walking the course of the river, it was full of obstacles of manmade origin. More spare tyres than the Michelin man visiting Quick Fit. Assorted car parts and metal and vegetation. Probably not a very good location to get baptised.
Despite this, and walking over a mile in waders, I found the location of the pollution source of entry fairly easily. This was an outfall on the embankment, and on climbing up that, a large fairly recently built large sewer tunnel was visible. I would estimate 1990’s construction. You can half stand in it and it stretches into a void darkness on an upward gradient.
A facebook video of the find can be viewed below.
Despite relaying this to EA and STW, they still wanted postcode and W3W! So back I went with my mate and some attempt at stopping the pollution with a boom and pads. We also got their bloody exact location, that they could not be bothered to get themselves. This was clock.swing.flip.
But I wasn’t satisfied with this, as I climbed up the embankment above the sewer tunnel, and arose on what I believe to be The Monks Tip, former licensed landfill site of the criminal waste dumping company Leigh – or in this case a subsidiary “Leigh Land Reclamation Limited”. They left fuck all “reclamation”, just wasteland, like that of much of the rest in this area being former “historic landfill sites”.
It was clear that I had reached the summit behind the Balaji Temple, itself built on the former Brades Hall Farm tip of equally dubious history.
The tunnel obviously goes under the car park in this location.
What is also clear, but not as yet if the two are linked, is a construction works ongoing at this Pankot Palace to build some type of dining hall. This was granted permission by Sandwell Council under auspices DC_23_68691.
On site is A and H construction.
Waste arisings, (from the former historic landfill site) 😮 are being taken up hill and deposited on what is claimed to be land owned by the Temple, immediately behind where I arrived up the embankment. 😎 I do hope that landfill tax assessments have been made, and that this is not a way of ensuring off site disposal costs can be slashed whilst avoiding a waste management licence. 😮 Apparently, this is going to become a FAITH HILL.
Faith Hill- There you’ll be. LOL
I have already expressed my concerns about this sprawling site which is now far removed from being a “Temple”, but is a separatist “5 minute city” set aside for just one religion and for which Sandwell council grants permission for the block vote that comes with it with increasing ease. The planning policy unit even holds its events here to plot more destruction of the green space such as cum rags like the Dudley port Supplementary planning document. The mini town has its own food store and houses for “visiting priests” set aside in a private road. Just how this can be confirmed by SMBC, and why it should be the case that in a “housing crisis” where land is in alleged short supply and on “brownfield land” this can happen. It is beyond me, but then again, some people have preference over others don’t they?
This was England
All I will say is, that I will be keeping a very close eye on this site in the coming weeks to make sure that there are no more snake surprises, and may karma come to those who pollute our waterways.
As for Severn Trent, customer services claimed that I would get an update on what they found within 48 hours, as did a supervisor. That deadline has passed and I am still in the dark as to what if anything they did or traced. Would it be covered up if for some reason religion came into the picture? This is what this foul company had to say on the recent planning consultation as a statutory consultee. Oh dear, may be a bit embarrassing for them.
DC_23_68691-SEVERN_TRENT_WATER_COMMENTS-1302954
As for the EA, I have asked them to look at the waste tipping scenario going on at this site, as well as future monitoring of what is a DOOMED polluted River which is not acceptable. A very timely piece following an FOI request by GreenPeace has shown what I have been saying for a very long time about the EA and their responses to these incidents, as well as the useless Common incident classification scheme and its categories. It is therefore not just myself that is calling this out.
“It found that the regulator has failed to meet its own response time targets for around three-quarters of England’s worst pollution incidents, which include major sewage, oil and slurry spills.”
Someone wrote this above one of their signs on the nature reserve, and it was not me. The sentiments however are fully supported by this website.
Gaslighting is a form of psychological manipulation that hinges on creating self-doubt.
The 1970’s were a truly terrifying time. Hairstyles and fashion were at their worst. Paedophile celebrities in the music and entertainment industry ran rampant rummaging in knickers as public information films they fronted with glee told children of some danger they should avoid. Strikes where the dead lay unburied and political instability and corruption came out from dying US conquests abroad as superpowers amassed growing arsenals of nuclear weapons. Everywhere there was a lurking Armageddon. Television heroes like Doctor Who offered some form of salvation in fiction where reality mirrored what script writers could imagine.
In the UK, the early part of this decade saw an explosion in suddenly “doing the right thing” regards hazardous chemicals dumped in the environment like confetti. I looked at this and the birth of The Deposit of Poisonous wastes Act HERE and HERE. One programme from script writers of the Time Lord series called Doomwatch captured people’s imagination of the times. I have named a list of the 1970’s passed hazardous waste licences, ironically not doing anything but making things worse for today after it HERE.
In reality in places like Oldbury in the shadow of a dangerous and toxic behemoth like Albright and Wilson the risks were still the same as they were years before their enduring pollution legacy. Things did not get better and neither did safety for residents or staff.
The 8th June 1973 Wolverhampton Express and Star offers a good example of how the media operated when it came to stories involving hazardous waste and pollution. On the one hand they report the incident, and yet with the other offer the polluters the opportunity to claim falsely that they are “investigating” and that it was a rare one off happening- which when you look at the longstanding record of this vile polluter, that is a lie.
This incident, another leak of acid gas, hydrochloric in this case , saw residents evacuated from their homes with the off site release. The M5 was fairly new at this stage, and so this too was affected. The mention of doomwatch is misleading as it implies the authorities were investigating, whereas, it was the polluters themselves who were attempting to pull the wool over people’s eyes.
The 23rd June article in the same paper is a typical cop out shit journalism which still continues today after such incidents, and is a PR piece attempt to move the story on from the real present danger to what they are going to do to claim it’s “safe”
Albright and Wilson were not going to do anything different at all, and nor would history show they had either with many , many subsequent incidents like this one. The “water wall” is a typical visual object to take away the gases that were still on site.
Words, actions, bollocks
New “safety measures” are an old chemical industry gaslighting technique, and AW and their slimy political bent shills like Samuel Melsom had done exactly the same trick with “The Oldbury Smell”. One can see the pattern of how they behave, and when you see this pattern, you can predict and call out the next one. Peter Bloore, liar and fantasist was notorious for these type of move the story on techniques also. The chemical industry continue to do this today. One woman’s nose appears to have been the only beacon for gauging pollution outside the Oldbury orifice for Jo public in the 70’s, as I looked at HERE. It should be noted that this was only a few years after these new safety measures were claimed to be being put in, thus proving the bullshit of AW.
Rhodia did exactly the same with the issues on rattlechain. At first they denied the chemicals in the lagoon were harmful with the calcium phosphate bullshit. When white phosphorus was found in the birds they claimed there was not enough to poison them, knowing full well that the amount found was not the amount swallowed with this evanescent banned rat poison. When that bullshit finally became impossible to deny, they attempted to move the story on with the 2013 cover up works. Just swap the “water wall” with the geotextile membrane to cover up the harm to their cancerous brand.
Of course, these methods of these bent “scientists” do not just extend to gaslighting the public and attempting to control their behaviour and view of reality, it also extends to their hapless gullible staff. I’m sorry to say that many of them appear to be thicker than dogshit, and I don’t really have much in the way of sympathy when they finally see the light, to use an apt metaphor.
Not content with causing them phossy jaw and serious burns through direct contact with white phosphorus, AW had gassed some with chlorine in an episode I looked at HERE.
This incident follows very soon after the so called “doomwatch investigation” into gassing the public and the 26 January 1974 Wolverhampton Express and Star again uses the same exact phrase FFS!
Again, the narrative is a feeble attempt to move the story on rather than castigate the scum who caused it. The Langley 27 were knocked out by the chemical warfare weapon, many needing hospital treatment, and I would wager suffering potential long lasting damage. No doubt AW management would press and quibble as to how much gas they had ingested before passing out, rather than how they had come to be gassed by negligence and poor health and safety.
Two staff however realised the seriousness of the situation, also spilling the beans as to how shite the AW plan was in terms of chemical releases. I wonder if they were tempted back or told to just shut their mouths by management the next time any releases were made? 😥
A brief but telling story from the 9th May 1997 Derry Journal. Rats get a bad deal and in my opinion are unfairly regarded as disease carrying vermin. AW of course made white phosphorus for this market with the chemical being used in poison baits. I’m not sure why this banned material would have been used in the story from 1997 however as the use was now widely illegal having been outlawed in 1963.
A dream home was allegedly burnt down when a rat that had swallowed p4 laced poison set a thatched roof on fire. No sympathy from me.
I can’t believe I have only just come across this one.
I have outlined the disastrous Albright and Wilson factory at Portishead in THIS POST.
The decommissioning of this site resulted in AW being prosecuted for enriching radioactive phosphorus, and admitted five offences under The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and yet the serial liar PR man Peter Bloore failed to mention this in a future Albright World piece. In 1990, a major fire saw many barrels of p4 going up in smoke. Clearly, the place was a doomed operation in production and in dismantling.
I have looked at the decommissioning operation of the zoned areas of the site in an FOI response request HERE.
A Bristol Evening Post article of 16th May 1997 however reveals a new off site threat that came from this factory and its activities. At this time, the plant was being decommissioned according to the reports received during the FOI request. This obviously was both a failure of the company and those carrying out the works, including their consultants who were shite. At the same time as this work was ongoing a former Royal Navy Yacht, the history of which I will look at further on in this post was being converted into a rich man’s plaything. However, workers on the vessel were complaining of being burnt and also that the fibre glass hull was being damaged by chemicals from the AW factory.
The millionaire owner , unnamed, was considering taking legal action against the polluters!
It is revealed in further columns that the former HMS TENACITY had been hit by escapes of phosphorus, though I suspect this was a mixture of phosphorus vapour and phosphorus pentoxide.
It is typical that AW refer to the size of the emission rather than the fact they should not have released anything off site at all. I have course had this same bullshit from their management regards the “small amounts ” of P4 that were in rattlechain lagoon, that were also “small amounts” found in the birds poisoned by their fucking chemical within that. They lie with a straight face and a “grin” of a horny nun below the cassock.
I suspect that this factory operated in exactly the same way as at Oldbury at this time in that as an EA report in 1997 noted, senior manager’s bonusses were linked to environmental performances. If you could pin the blame on weather, acts of God, or anything then they would try it on. You could also of course be rewarded for attempting to cover them up.
A reminder of how they had failed to stop phosphorus escaping off site before.
The following year, and still during the life of the decommissioning works, the Clevedon Mercury article of 23rd July 1998 told that the conversion of the yacht had been put off altogether and the ship was now to be scrapped!
HMS TENACITY
This vessel was built in Portsmouth by Vosper Thorneycroft in 1969. It was an experimental fast patrol boat which eventually was taken on by the Royal Navy three years later. There is more on its history HERE. A piece in The Dover Express dated 2nd August 1974 shows it in its prime billed as “the fastest ship in The Royal Navy”. At this point it was based in Dover. There is also some irony that the vessel was used for “fisheries protection” duties. Albright and Wilson of course were adapt at poisoning fish around this time with white phosphorus in their doomed Long Harbour Venture.
There has to be a great deal of irony in all of these connections.
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