THE thought he would ever be recommended for a medal never occurred to pollution investigator Mike Riby as he surveyed the twisted, toxic leaking hulks of two smashed tankers, one cold February day in 1996.

The crash occurred when a tanker careered through a gap in the A19 central reservation into the path of the second tanker near Thornaby.

One of the lorries was carrying the highly toxic chemical nitrobenzene, when it overturned and leaked its load into Stainton Beck, which took a month to clean up.

It was a christening under fire for the then fledgling Environment Agency. The Billingham father-of- one was chief investigator at the incident and is an agency team leader.

The 49-year-old said his MBE in the Birthday Honours came like a bolt out of the blue. "I was extremely surprised, it's not something you expect.

"When you work in industry for a long time, doing your best and someone recognises your input, it is absolutely fabulous.

"When I was contacted and told I was being considered, it came right out of the blue. I was gobsmacked.''

Involved in environment management, Mr Riby deals with pollution incidents and firms who are improving in their performance - and those who are not improving.

But he still regards the 1996 two- tanker smash at the A19 - Parkway interchange as his biggest single challenge.

His wife, Sue, and 14-year-old son, Scott, were not let in on the secret of his award until last weekend.

* Dr Tony Gillham, chairman of the Safe in Tees Valley, crime fighting business and public sector partnership, says his MBE for services to the police and partnership agencies is as much for the team as for himself.

He says partnership is the key word.

"It's no good just blaming things on others, but to get stuck in and do something about it.

Dr Gillham said: "I think there is a lack of respect for authority and I think it is important we do support the police.

"The police, probation service and the fire brigade cannot do this on their own, but we can tackle it together, in partnership."

Dr Gillham led a management buy-out of Carlos Chemicals at Middlesbrough in the 1980s and called what emerged as Chemoxy International. It has since been bought by the Dow chemical company.