An major oil spill in Liverpool city centre caused chaos on Thursday afternoon (April 14).
Emergency services were in attendance outside Primark on Church Street on Thursday afternoon after a hydraulic oil spillage from a council vehicle caused many pedestrians to fall over. Video footage circulating on social media showed a pedestrian getting up from the greasy road surface having hit the floor.
Twitter user @TLG_Electro told the ECHO that he slipped outside Primark, nearly 'snapping' his back and toes. He added that he had seen a lady fall and injure her eye.
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Another person tweeted: "Daughter hass called to say Church Street in town is like a skating rink, people falling over all over the place, an oil/geease spill or something similar right down the middle of Church Street from top by Bold Street to down past Lush."
The ECHO attended the scene shortly after 4pm. Merseyside Police and North West Ambulance Service were in attendance and Liverpool City Council has placed sand along the length of the street in order to reduce the slipping hazard.
However, a number of cyclists and pedestrians continued to fall over despite the presence of the grit. Police officers at the scene were marshalling people away from the centre of the street.
A Liverpool City Council spokesperson said: “A pipe carrying hydraulic oil burst on one of our street washing vehicles at around 4pm this afternoon and caused a major spillage on Church Street. We have laid 1.5 tonnes of sand which has absorbed the oil. This will be swept up overnight and the area jet washed. We advise people in the area to take care over the next few hours.”
The spillage appeared to have been initially restricted to the centre of the street, but a witness said that pedestrians had spread it across Church Street by walking through it. The ECHO also understands that a person has been taken to hospital with injuries caused by slipping over.
