AN East Lancashire chemical blending company has been fined £10,000 for polluting four miles of the River Irwell and killing thousands of fish.

A substance at the river in Haslingden was traced to Lectros International Limited, which operates under the trading name of Wykamol Group, based at Knowsley Road Industrial Estate, Haslingden.

Reedley Magistrates Court was told that an Environment Agency officer found hundreds of dead fish where the River Irwell meets the River Ogden at Irwell Bridge, dead worms in the riverbed where the River Irwell meets Langwood Brook and more dead fish in the river at the village of Ewood Bridge.

Under cautioned interview Anthony Street, managing director of Lectros, accepted that there were no measures in place to prevent liquids entering the drainage system.

Mr Street pleaded guilty on behalf of the company to causing polluting matter to enter a controlled water.

Wykamol Group was ordered to pay £4,354 costs to the Environment Agency, which brought the prosecution.

The company today refused to comment.