A demolition company which buried an oil tanker loaded with heating oil on its premises has pleaded guilty to pollution offences.

L A Moore was prosecuted by the Environment Agency for allowing toxic chemicals to pollute a controlled water- course at its premises near Wells.

The company is said to have allowed a quantity of heating oil to leak from the tanker.

It entered a guilty plea to the charge when the case was put before South Somerset Magistrates in Yeovil on Monday.

The court heard that L A Moore Limited committed the offence of "causing poisonous, noxious or polluting matter, namely heating oil, to enter controlled waters" on or before March 4, 2008.

Oil from the tanker leaked into groundwater at The Old Railway Yard, Haybridge, near Wells.

The court heard that the company had buried the oil tanker at its premises and subsequently decided to move it.

It was when it was being moved that a quantity of heavy fuel oil leaked out.

The leak had been relatively well controlled but did reach groundwaters and as a result a small amount of film reached a local watercourse.

Magistrates heard that the company accepted responsibility for the leak and the amount of environmental harm caused by the incident was very limited.

The magistrates accepted jurisdiction for the case and adjourned the matter at the request of the prosecution and the defence for a sentencing hearing on Monday, November 9, at Yeovil.

A second charge against L A Moore of keeping controlled waste, namely part of a road tanker, in land at The Old Railway, Haybridge, in a manner likely to cause pollution of the environment, was dropped by the prosecution.

The case was being brought contrary to the Water Resources Act 1991 and carries a maximum penalty of a £20,000 fine and or three months' imprisonment.