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Britteco surveys, removes and replaces diesel, gas oil and heating oil tanks for factories, quarries, depots and farms in County Durham, from Durham and Chester-le-Street to Newton Aycliffe, Bishop Auckland and Consett. The county is worked by our northern engineers, who set out from the Harrogate base in North Yorkshire.
Industry in the south of the county has gathered around Newton Aycliffe, where Hitachi Rail has assembled intercity trains at Merchant Park since 2015 and new warehouse units are bringing over 1,100 jobs. Integra 61 beside the A1(M) holds a two-million-square-foot Amazon fulfilment centre, and NETPark at Sedgefield hosts technology firms. Sites like these run standby generators, sprinkler pumps and fleet refuelling points, each with a tank that needs regular checks.
The east of the county stands on Magnesian Limestone, and it is still quarried: Thrislington has consent to extract until 2030. Crushers, loading shovels and site bowsers run on red diesel or gas oil, and contractors’ compounds rely on site fuel tanks that move from job to job.
Westward the land climbs into Weardale and Teesdale, with hill farms keeping cattle and sheep, while the eastern lowlands grow wheat, barley and oilseed rape. Across the Durham County Council area 2.4% of households heat only with oil, mostly in the dales. Council depots and schools there often run oil boilers too, and the hospitals at Durham, Bishop Auckland and Shotley Bridge keep generator fuel ready.
Most County Durham jobs begin with an inspection, and many end with an old tank leaving site.
Listed in the order Durham customers book them.
Run out of heating oil or diesel in County Durham?
24/7 emergency heating oil, kerosene and diesel delivery from 100 litres, including nights, weekends and bank holidays.
County Durham lies in the Environment Agency’s North East area. Under the eastern plateau, the Magnesian Limestone is a principal aquifer used for public water, and studies describe it as highly vulnerable to pollution because water moves quickly through its fractures. Source Protection Zones around supply boreholes make a leaking tank on that ground a serious matter.
The River Wear rises fast after heavy rain. Over 900 properties in Chester-le-Street are at risk from the Wear, the Cong Burn and surface water, and the town was badly hit on 28 June 2012. In the winter 2015 storms the Wear left its banks along Durham’s riverside, and at Stanhope water came through the flood wall and swept a footbridge away. Tanks near the river need strong anchoring and a bund that stays dry.
Commercial stores above 201 litres fall under England’s 2001 oil storage regulations: a 110% bund or integrally bunded tank, protected fittings and a layout that keeps fuel away from drains. After every Durham job we hand over the inspection report, waste transfer or consignment notes and, when a tank leaves, a certificate of disposal.
We serve the whole county and Darlington, including these towns.
Britteco carries out fuel tank inspection across the North East, including County Durham, Tyne and Wear and Northumberland, with engineers sent from our Harrogate base. Each visit ends with a written oil tank survey covering the tank, bund, pipework and alarms.
A buried tank is pumped out, cleaned and made gas-free first, then dug out and cut into sections if the ground allows. If it runs under a building or a haul road, filling it with foam or sand is the safer route. Either way you receive a certificate showing how it was dealt with.
Yes. Plant fuel quickly picks up dust, water and sludge that block filters. We pump the tank out, clean it, filter the fuel back in where it is worth saving and remove the waste under a consignment note.
Stop deliveries, move what fuel you can into drums or a spare tank, and lay absorbent around the base. Then call us and we will pump it out and assess the damage. On the Magnesian Limestone, also tell the Environment Agency if oil has reached soil or a drain.
Now and then, alongside farm and business work. Our page on changing a household oil tank explains how it works for homeowners.
The same northern engineers cover these areas.
Send us the tank size, the fuel and the location, with photos if you have them. We will arrange an inspection and price any removal or replacement it points to.
