AN ENTIRE tank of diesel has flooded a street leaving residents’ shoes and clothes filthy and causing concern over vulnerable pedestrians’ wellbeing.

A huge flood of diesel covered the roadway and pavements on the small cul-de-sac in Lover’s Walk near Preston Park in Brighton on Wednesday morning.

Efforts to clean up the mess seemed only to be making matters worse yesterday but the council assured residents the spill has been dealt with quickly and efficiently.

Resident David Simms, 60, said: “I had to pass through it to get down the street.

“I was on my bicycle and it was slippery under the back wheel.

“It gets worse as you go down and I had a growing sense of disbelief of ‘what the hell is this?’

“It’s over the road and the pavement so you can’t get through.

“I saw an elderly lady walk up the pavement and she was walking up the wall as she walked.

“Anything could happen.

“My housemate goes to work on his bike and it has kicked up from his tyres to his clothing which is damaged.

“Our bikes are covered in it and it’s being tracked up the steps and across into the park.

“You can’t get it off your shoes, it’s getting tracked into the houses.”

He said sand-like pellets were laid down by the fire brigade but had turned into sludge with recent rains.

He said his flatmate had been met with “indifference” upon calling Brighton and Hove City Council, but praised help he received from Councillor Leo Littman.

Mr Simms added the slick seemed worse than ever by yesterday morning, adding: “It’s been three days now.”

A council spokesperson said: “The spill occurred after the petrol tank engine of a car cracked and shed around 50 litres of diesel onto the street.

“Once we were notified we immediately covered the area in oil absorbent granules that need to be left around 24 hours to soak up the spill.

“In situations like this we normally use about four bags of granules to cover the area but in this case we had to use 12 as the spill was so large.

“We cleared the vast majority of both the granules and the spill from the area on Friday morning, and will be using a jet washer to clean up the remaining residue on Saturday morning.”

An Environment Agency spokesman said the spill not not been reported to the agency but said residents could call them on 0800 807060.