Britain: Still no compensation one year after Buncefield explosion

At 6 a.m. on Sunday, December 11, 2005, a huge explosion ripped through the Buncefield oil storage depot at Hemel Hempstead, northwest of London, decimating the depot and surrounding houses and offices. The raging inferno at the facility owned by Hertfordshire Oil Storage Limited (HOSL) took 650 firefighters four days to put out.

Prior to the explosion, Buncefield supplied over eight percent of the UK’s oil, including 20 percent of supplies to south-east England and 40 percent of Heathrow airport’s demand. On December 11, the depot held over 35 million litres of petrol, diesel and aviation fuel.

As a result of the explosion some 200 people were injured—two seriously—and a further 2,000 evacuated. More than 300 houses were damaged and about 600 businesses employing 16,500 people were badly disrupted. If the incident had happened during the week casualties would have been far higher and fatalities would almost certainly have occurred.

Heidi Brazier, founder of the Buncefield Residents Support Group whose family is still living in a hotel one year later said, “The residents have been forgotten.” She added, “One woman said to me if she had the choice between compensation and turning the clock back she would say ‘keep the money’. The suffering of some of those affected has been terrible and unreasonable.”

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http://wsws.org/articles/2006/dec2006/bunc-d18.shtml