MORE details about the mysterious dumping of waste in Morecambe Bay in the early 1970s have flooded into the Citizen, thanks to keen-eyed readers. The story came to light after the Government asked the National Radiological Protection Board to investigate claims that radioactive sludge was dumped from boats in the Bay. Last week a retired sea captain said he had regularly seen a Dutch tanker barge dumping sludge in the Lune Estuary and this week more details came to light.

A customs officer called to say that the tanker was called the Glamadis, a name made up from Glasson Marine Disposals.

The company received customs authority to dump 'non-toxic' waste in the Bay from Heysham Customs.

He said: "If it had been anything other than non-toxic waste then they would have needed a Board of Trade Licence. They had permission to dump the sludge in the Lune Deeps but the crew may have dumped it in the estuary merely to get back to the harbour quicker."

Another caller said he regularly saw road tankers bringing the waste to Glasson and filling up containers where it was transferred to the Glamadis, which was registered to a company based in Preesall called Marine Disposals Ltd.

There are still question marks surrounding the contents of the sludge that the Glamadis dumped at sea.

The waste came from a chemical company called Thorium based in Runcorn, Cheshire, but it is unclear whether it was toxic or non-toxic.

Green campaigners have said that it is worrying that no one really knows what was dumped at sea and Morecambe's MP, Geraldine Smith has said she will meet members of Friends of the Earth to discuss the evidence.

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