Dune grasses beside a broad tidal inlet with distant low industrial buildings
NORTH EAST ENGLAND

Commercial tank cleaning and removal inNorth East England

Britteco cleans, removes, foam fills and decommissions commercial oil and fuel tanks across the North East, from Teesside and Newton Aycliffe to Sunderland, Newcastle and the Northumberland coast. Crews travel from our Harrogate office to chemical plants, ports, car and train factories, harbours and farms.

Get a Quote →Call 0800 677 1155
OFTEC registeredISO 9001:2015CHAS accreditedBases in Banbury & Harrogate
We cover nationwideTeesside to the Scottish border, reached from our North Yorkshire office.
What sets the North East apart

Process industry, ports and a long coastline

Teesside is one of the most fuel-intensive places in England. Teesport, the UK’s third-largest port at more than 56 million tonnes a year, handles petrochemicals for about half its cargo, and nearby Wilton International is described as Britain’s biggest chemical complex. Sites like these run bulk tanks, process fuel and standby generators under strict permit regimes.

Further north, the Port of Tyne has two car terminals exporting vehicles built in the region, and Nissan’s Sunderland plant became the UK’s largest car factory in 1998. Hitachi Rail assembles trains at Newton Aycliffe in County Durham. Manufacturing on this scale keeps diesel, generator fuel and waste oil on site.

Household reliance on oil is low across the region, at 1.6%, but Northumberland reaches 7.5%. Its farms, coastal villages and harbours, such as North Sunderland Harbour at Seahouses, are where single-skin and underground tanks still turn up.

  • Bulk storage and generator fuel on Teesside chemical sites
  • Fleet and plant diesel at port and manufacturing sites
  • Underground and single-skin tanks along the Northumberland coast
  • Corrosion on steel tanks exposed to salt air
Counties in the North East

North East county pages

Northumberland has its own page, with our Seahouses job among the local detail.

Fishing boats moored in a stone harbour
NORTH EAST ENGLAND

Northumberland

7.5% of households use oil-only heating; our Seahouses underground tank foam filling is here.

Northumberland tank services

We also cover County Durham, Tyne and Wear and the Tees Valley — call to discuss a site.

Recent work in the North East

Underground tank foam filling at Seahouses

A coastal job in Northumberland, written up in full on its case study page.

Underground tank foam filling at North Sunderland Harbour, Seahouses
Case study · Seahouses

Underground tank foam filling

At North Sunderland Harbour in Seahouses, Northumberland, our team carried out foam filling of an underground tank on a coastal site.

View the Seahouses case study →
How we work in the North East

Planned trips north from Harrogate

Each North East visit is planned from our Harrogate office so the work is finished in one go.

  1. Send the detailsTell us what the tank stores, its size and whether it is above or below ground. For permit-controlled Teesside sites, share induction requirements early.
  2. Agree the methodWe confirm whether the tank will be removed, cleaned or decommissioned in place, and how waste fuel will leave site. Harbour and coastal jobs may need access windows built in.
  3. On-site workOur crew drains the tank, removes sludge and either lifts it out, cold cuts it or fills it with foam. The work area is left clean when we go.
  4. PaperworkWe supply the Waste Transfer or Consignment Note, plus degassing or disposal certificates for your permit and audit files.
Services in the North East

What North East customers ask for

Ranked by how often they come up on North East sites.

Decommissioning & foam fillingFoam filling buried and inaccessible tanks, as at Seahouses harbour.Explore the service → Underground tank removalExcavating and removing old buried fuel tanks from yards and former filling points.Explore the service → Tank cleaningCleaning bulk diesel and process fuel tanks on Teesside and Tyneside sites.Explore the service → Tank decommissioningCertified decommissioning when a tank must stay in place beside live plant.Explore the service → Tank removal & cold cuttingCold cutting and removing redundant steel tanks where hot work is prohibited.Explore the service → Ultrasonic thickness testingThickness testing steel tank walls exposed to sea air and industrial atmospheres.Explore the service → Tank inspectionsBund and tank checks for factories, ports and Northumberland farms.Explore the service → Waste oil disposalWaste oil and contaminated fuel collected with hazardous waste paperwork.Explore the service → Emergency fuel deliveryOut-of-hours diesel or heating oil, 100, 200 or 500 litres, any day of the week.Explore the service →

Run out of heating oil or diesel in North East England?

24/7 emergency heating oil, kerosene and diesel delivery from 100 litres, including nights, weekends and bank holidays.

Emergency oil delivery0800 677 1155
Rules & local risks

Coast, river floods and storage rules in the North East

The region falls within the Environment Agency’s North East area. River flooding is a real risk: in September 2008 the River Wansbeck reached a record level and damaged nearly 1,000 properties in Morpeth. Coastal sites face a different problem, as salt-laden air speeds up corrosion on steel tanks, pipework and fittings.

The Control of Pollution (Oil Storage) (England) Regulations 2001 apply to business sites storing more than 201 litres. That means a bund holding 110% of the tank’s capacity, sound pipework and protection from vehicles, and major hazard sites such as Wilton, which holds COMAH status, add their own controls.

We follow GPP2 and OFTEC practice and document each visit with Waste Transfer or Consignment Notes and, where relevant, degassing certificates or Certificates of Disposal.

Questions

North East tank questions

Can an underground tank be left in the ground?

Yes, if removal is impractical. The tank is emptied, cleaned and degassed, then filled with foam so no void or vapour remains. Foam filling is what we carried out for an underground tank at North Sunderland Harbour in Seahouses.

Do steel tanks near the coast need extra checks?

Salt air attacks steel faster than inland conditions, so seams, legs and fittings on coastal tanks deserve regular inspection. Ultrasonic thickness testing shows how much wall is left before a weep becomes a leak.

Can you work within Teesside permit systems?

Yes. We follow inductions, permits to work and isolation procedures, use cold cutting where hot work is banned, and supply method statements before we start.

How do you plan a job at a site in Newcastle?

We start from your photos and tank details, agree the method and book a fixed date, then bring everything the job needs so it is done in one visit. If a site runs short of fuel before then, our emergency diesel and heating oil delivery runs 24/7.

What happens to the fuel left in an old tank?

Usable fuel can be decanted for reuse, sometimes after polishing. Contaminated fuel, sludge and water go for disposal as waste oil, recorded on a Consignment Note.

Nearby areas

Areas next to the North East

Neighbouring areas covered by the same Harrogate team.

Yorkshire and the HumberNorth West EnglandNorth Yorkshire

Tank work coming up in the North East?

Call 0800 677 1155 or send photos through the quote form. Our Harrogate team will confirm the method, the certificates you will receive and a date.

Request a quote →Call 0800 677 1155
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