FIREFIGHTERS were called out to deal with a potentially disastrous situation at Lenham, near Maidstone, yesterday afternoon.

A lorry began leaking diesel at the North Trading Estate, off the A20, and firefighters from Charing arrived on the scene just after 3pm.

A fire on board the vehicle had damaged the fuel tank and the lorry had leaked 200 litres of diesel.

The firefighters had the situation under control by 4.20pm but stayed on the scene to wait for the Environment Agency who arrived just under an hour later.

A spokeswoman for the Environment Agency said later: “We were notified by the Fire Brigade and we have been on site assessing the environmental impact. But it is too soon to say more than that at this stage.”