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WORKERS on the new Forth Road Bridge have been caught dumping tons of concrete in the river.

Video handed over to the Record shows waste material being illegally poured into the Firth of Forth – home to a variety of wildlife.

The worker who shot the film says it shows 350 tons of waste concrete being dumped in the water and insists it is not an isolated incident.

Environmental groups last night attacked the contractors on the controversy-dogged Queensferry Crossing for polluting the protected coastal waters.

The whistleblower worker blamed “laziness” for the dumping and accused staff working for Forth Crossing Bridge

Constructors of not caring about the environmental impact.

He said: “They know it’s illegal but they do it anyway.”

A spokesman for Government agency Transport Scotland said last night: “We have no knowledge of this alleged incident but together with FCBC, we will ensure we investigate the matter.

“We would expect any such event to have been reported by anyone who observed it happening so that it could be investigated and corrected quickly.

“FCBC carry out all activities in accordance with operating procedures which incorporate appropriate environmental and safety safeguards.

“Well over 100,000 tons of concrete has been placed successfully to date on the project.”

The £1.4billion crossing – a 2.7km twin span upstream of the existing road bridge – began construction in 2011 and is due to open at the end of next year.

Completing the project on time is seen as critical in the wake of this month’s three-week closure of the Forth Road Bridge to all traffic for major repairs.

The worker who shot the video, who asked not to be named, said dumping concrete saved dozens of man hours.

He said: “On the video, you can see they’re being sly as they’ve brought down the pipe below the level of the barge, next to the metal surrounding the base of the tower.

“You’d have to be quite close to the bridge to know what’s going on.”

The dumping – filmed from a raised walkway on the massive structure – took place in late November and was the biggest the whistleblower has seen.

The most recent dumping he observed took place about three weeks ago, he said.

He added: “There’s a barge with six to eight concrete distributors on it, similar to ones you’d see on the back of a cement truck.

“They’re constantly churning concrete. That’s pumped into another machine at the base of the tower, which then feeds the concrete through pipes where it needs to go.

“Here they’d finished with the concrete required so they pumped the rest into the Forth.”

(Image: Danny Lawson/PA Wire)

On the video, the camera pans out from the concrete pouring from the pipe to reveal an expanse of brown waste on top of the water.

The worker said: “Dumping unneeded concrete saves them having to dispose of it properly.

“Otherwise they’d have to take it ashore, put it in skips and transport it away.

“But it’s not so much a cost-saving move, it’s really just lazy.”

FCBC is a consortium made up of Spanish firm Dragados, German outfit Hochtief, American Bridge International and Edinburgh’s Morrison Construction.

The worker added: “I don’t think the top, top people would know about this but foremen, managers and those sort of roles would likely know it’s going on.

“There was a guy caught dumping eight tons of concrete during the summer.

“He was threatened with being fired. But he said he’d expose what was going on with the concrete and take everyone down with him. He was promoted instead.”

Dr Richard Dixon, director of Friends of the Earth Scotland, last night described the dumping as “outrageous”.

He explained that the concrete could inflict a wide range of ecological damage on the river and the species it supports.

He added: “It may spread and blanket the river bed so plants and animals living there will be smothered.

“That’s the bottom of the food chain so fish and birds are feeding on them.

“Concrete will muddy the water and affect visibility so that will put off fish, seals and diving birds. Finally there’s chemical contamination. Concrete has lime in it, which is very reactive, and it will change the acidity of the water.

“It’s not like dumping tons of poison in the water but in these large quantities, it’s certainly very worrying.”

(Image: Daily Record)

Scottish Labour deputy leader and Fife MSP Alex Rowley said: “This is a very serious situation that demands immediate investigation.

“People need to know how long this has been going on for and who knew about what was happening. There also needs to be an urgent assessment of the environmental impact.”

Green MSP Alison Johnstone said: “Dumping concrete into coastal waters in an apparent bid to save time is simply appalling. I would also expect the Scottish Government to review the contract with this company as it would be wrong to pay public funds to a firm polluting Scotland’s environment.”

The crossing has been dogged by controversies, including a political row when Scottish firms lost out to foreign rivals for contracts to supply steel for the construction of the bridge.

In June, work ground to a halt on one section after a routine concrete pour was botched.

Earlier this month, scores of workers walked off the job, claiming they had failed to receive holiday pay they said they were promised for Christmas.

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