Firefighters battled to control a chemical leak on Teesside for seven hours today.

Paraxylene - a flammable material used in the manufacture of polyesters - leaked from a storage tank at Teesport, Middlesbrough, as it was being loaded on to a ship.

Fire crews laid a blanket of foam on the chemical as it poured into a protective bund encircling the Huntsman storage tank.

A spokesman for the company said: "It was a very small leak of paraxylene from one of the storage tanks at Teesport. It has been contained in a bund around the tank.

"There is definitely no on or off site implications and nothing has gone into the river. It is freezing as it is coming out.''

The leak was first spotted at 3.15am today.

A spokeswoman for Cleveland Fire Brigade, which sent crews from Redcar and Grangetown to the scene, said the present cold snap was helping clean up operations.

She said: "This liquid freezes in cold temperatures which makes our job a little easier; there is no gas given off when it is cold.

"There will be repair work going on, on site, and we will be there on protective standby.''