TOXIC chemicals were released from a North-East factory because a valve failed to close, it was revealed last night.

Six people were taken to hospital following the incident at the Great Lakes Chemicals factory in Newton Aycliffe, County Durham, in January.

At a meeting last night, Health and Safety Executive inspector Linda Donachie told members of Great Aycliffe Town Council that the substance released was bromine vapours, which rolls and creeps along the ground.

The incident happened when the material was being transferred into a seven-tonne vessel, where it was being weighed.

Mrs Donachie said: "When the operator thought it was finished, he closed the valve, but unbeknown to him the valve stuck in the open position.

"What happened was bromine kept passing on, eventually the vessel got full and there was nowhere else for it to go."

She said investigations were still continuing into why the valve failed to close and it would take some months to complete.

The council also heard from communicable disease expert Dr David Walker, who said that six people had been admitted to hospital.

Four had been seriously injured and one needed care in an intensive therapy unit. Seven people, including two children, were admitted to GPs' surgeries as emergency cases, suffering from minor complaints, but more had probably been affected.

Problems ranged from chemical burns to respiratory difficulties.

He said: "In the short term following the Great Lakes incident, we did have several serious injuries connected directly to the incident itself."

But he also said there were no detectable long-term health implications.

The council, which had expressed concerns about the incident and the levels of pollutants released by factories in the town as a whole, also invited the Environment Agency to explain how it monitors emissions.

At the end of the meeting council leader Bob Fleming said he believed there had been many more people affected by the incident, but that the medical report had set his mind to rest.

He said: "I am very pleased to hear we are living in a place that is as good as anywhere else because we were worried there would be clusters of illness around the area."