THE Ridham Dock recycling plant near Sittingbourne at the centre of last week's blaze has been closed down for repairs.

Managers at European Metal Recycling's shredding plant in Iwade believe a petrol spark was responsible for setting fire to 1,500 tonnes of scrap metal which blazed all afternoon last Tuesday.

They have discovered that damage was caused to some of the concrete at the plant, although the machinery was unaffected.

Spokeswoman Cherry Reade said: "We have an annual shutdown for maintenance on the machines and this year it has coincided with the fire. We didn't think the fire had done any damage, but we have since found out there has been minor damage to the concrete so we will be repairing that.

"We will be reviewing the way we store materials and all the processes. We are very pleased with the way everybody dealt with the emergency, staff and the fire brigade who worked through the night."

EMR is a specialist metal recycling company with 10 sites nation-wide. The Ridham Dock site is used for metal shredding and processes a scrap car every 30 seconds.