Five companies have been ordered to pay more than £9m for their part in an explosion at Buncefield oil depot five years ago which caused the largest fire in peacetime Europe. The explosion...injured 40 people, destroyed homes and...[caused] damage to the local environment...Total UK had already pleaded guilty to three charges last November including that it failed to ensure the health and safety of its employees and members of the public contrary to the Health and Safety at Work act...Hertfordshire Oil Storage, which was owned by Total and Texaco [part of Chevron] at the time, was found guilty of failing to...prevent major accidents and also it pleaded guilty to another charge of allowing polluting matter to enter into the groundwater...British Pipeline Agency, owned by Shell and BP, pleaded guilty to charges of failing to take measures necessary to prevent major accidents and causing pollution to enter into controlled waters...TAV Engineering and Motherwell Control Systems 2003...were both found guilty of failing to ensure that members of the public were not exposed to health and safety risks.