Mr Justice Steel today ruled that the oil company Total is responsible for the damage caused by the Buncefield explosion in 2005.
At approximately 6am on 11th December 2005, a massive explosion occurred at the Buncefield oil depot in Hertfordshire. The blast was the largest peacetime explosion in Europe since World War II and caused extensive damage to the surrounding businesses and homes. A number of people were also injured.
It is understood that the claims arising out of the incident amount to over £750 million. Leigh Day & Co represent a number of companies and individuals affected by the explosion.
The Buncefield site was a large fuel tank farm used by a number of oil companies including Total and Chevron. The depot received petrol, aviation fuel and diesel by pipeline. The cause of the explosion was the ignition of a vapour cloud from a 300 ton spillage of petrol from a storage tank.
In the Summer of 2008, Total and HOSL (a joint venture company established by Total and Chevron) admitted that either one or the other was responsible for the various acts of the relevant supervisor on duty at Buncefield on the morning of the explosion. Then, during the trial in October 2008 Total and HOSL conceded that the physical damage sustained by the claimants and their property was all a foreseeable consequence of the explosion.
Today the Judge concluded that Total is liable for the damage caused. Click
here for to see the full judgment, press release
here.
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