Industrial generators have gone from the car park of Aldi in Frenchmans Road after diesel, thought to be hundreds of litres, leaked into the stream that runs through the store car park for days.

A local resident alerted the Environment Agency to the issue on Saturday, January 21.

He said diesel had been leaking into the stream for four days before the Environment Agency was notified.

The slick flowed down stream past Waitrose and on into the brook through the Herne Farm estate.

He added: “It looked like 100s of litres of diesel had spilt into the stream, and people were complaining that there was an ‘oil slick’ visible outside of Waitrose.”

On hearing of the incident, Bell Hill town and district councillor Jamie Matthews contacted Aldi.

He said: “There was a large spill of diesel from a generator located in the car park which had polluted a local stream and residents were very concerned about it.”

On becoming officially aware of the leak, Aldi quickly took action, placing inflatable spillage containment booms with wood shavings to soak up the diesel down stream as far away as Herne Farm.

In a statement an Aldi spokesman said: “We take issues like this very seriously and as soon as we were made aware of the incident we immediately began working with our partners to minimise any impact.

“A full clean of the area has been undertaken by a specialist team and we are working closely with the Environment Agency.”