IF an oil spill does occur in the Teign estuary, the town is now much better prepared to cope with it.

An ‘incident management exercise’ organised by Teignmouth harbourmaster Cmdr David Vaughan on Tuesday envisaged a scenario of ten tonnes of fuel oil leaking from a cargo vessal in the harbour after a collision.

With beaches and marine under threat, a boom was quickly put in place to contain the oil, and specialists began a clean-up.

Cmdr Vaughan said it showed that a quick response to an oil spill could limit the potential damage and prevent it from turning into a disaster.

He said: ‘It went brilliantly, and we learned a tremendous amount that will hold us in good stead if there is ever a similar real incident.

‘There was a full turn-out of interested parties, including all the emergency services, local authorities and specialists, and it was certainly worthwhile staging the exercise.’