Following on from the winter's severe price rises, the heating oil industry is now reeling from a fresh setback. Heating oil installers have complained that mechanical overspill prevention systems on plastic tanks are failing - which could leave installers in serious financial trouble as well as causing environmental damage.

As a feature of new design standards, released by OFTEC last year, all plastic oil tanks have to be fitted with an overspill system. According to the official OFTEC website: "The measures will mean delivery drivers can fill oil storage tanks more easily and safely, reducing oil spillages and therefore protecting the environment."

Manufacturers complied with the new standards by building in either a mechanical or electrical overspill device into their new models.

But now, some heating oil installers are claiming that the mechanical version is prone to failure - and while that is worrying enough for home and business owners with a plastic oil tank on their premises - the news gets worse for installers.

Should overspill occur as a result of the system failure, it could be they who face the massive costs for loss and damage - potentially running into tens of thousands of pounds.

The very fact that these overspill systems have been enforced is testament to the fact that heating oil spills can have desperate consequences for homeowners, businesses and the environment. With mechanical devices reportedly failing, the number of oil spills occurring around us is likely to stay dangerously high.