Ineos has been fined following a spill three years ago

Ineos has been fined £100,000 following an oil spill at Grangemouth refinery three years ago.

It pleaded guilty at Falkirk Sheriff Court after an investigation revealed that the firm had been aware of the risk at the plant, however, it chose to rely on staff to reduce the pressure by using manual methods to drain oil from the pipeline before storing it in a container which was not suitable for the job.

"At the time of the incident the line was not in use pending restart of a distillation unit within the Grangemouth refinery. The leak was quickly identified and isolated with temporary barriers put in place to contain the small amount of oil," said the firm in a statement.

It added that a number of recommendations have been made following the spill which have now been acted upon.

Earlier this month, Chinese investment in Grangemouth, costing £626 million, helped to secure around 2,000 jobs at the refinery.