CWOJackson
Charter Member
Around 18,000 litres (reportedly 4,750 gallons) of Scotch poured into a local sewage works after the gaffe by staff at Chivas Brothers bottling plant.
An insider said: “It was like someone turned on a tap and it just ran straight down the plughole.” Fears that the booze ended up in the River Leven near the site in Dumbarton turned out to be off the mark.
But Scottish Water chiefs said the sheer volume of spirits could hamper its waste treatment centre in the town.
The bungle came during a routine cleaning operation in the early hours of Tuesday at the whisky plant which employs 600 workers. The insider went on: “It happened on a night-shift washout — that’s when the equipment is cleaned for a changeover between different products. Instead of draining the water and cleaning solution, they flushed out all the whisky. What’s even more shocking is no one noticed until 11am.”
He said bosses were “livid”, adding: “The guys responsible will be lucky to keep their jobs.” A spokesman for Chivas Brothers — makers of Ballantines, the world’s second biggest selling Scotch — said a probe is under way.
An insider said: “It was like someone turned on a tap and it just ran straight down the plughole.” Fears that the booze ended up in the River Leven near the site in Dumbarton turned out to be off the mark.
But Scottish Water chiefs said the sheer volume of spirits could hamper its waste treatment centre in the town.
The bungle came during a routine cleaning operation in the early hours of Tuesday at the whisky plant which employs 600 workers. The insider went on: “It happened on a night-shift washout — that’s when the equipment is cleaned for a changeover between different products. Instead of draining the water and cleaning solution, they flushed out all the whisky. What’s even more shocking is no one noticed until 11am.”
He said bosses were “livid”, adding: “The guys responsible will be lucky to keep their jobs.” A spokesman for Chivas Brothers — makers of Ballantines, the world’s second biggest selling Scotch — said a probe is under way.