Oil company Total UK has admitted health and safety breaches relating to the explosion at the Buncefield oil depot in Hertfordshire in 2005 that left 43 people injured and forced 2,000 to leave their homes.rnTotal pleaded guilty at the Old Bailey to two breaches of the Health and Safety Act and one charge of polluting water under the Water Resources Act.rnThe blast, believed to be the largest in peacetime Europe, occurred after a tank gauge became stuck, causing oil to overflow and a huge vapour cloud to form and ignite. The explosion measured 2.4 on the Richter scale and was so powerful that it could be heard 125 miles away.
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