The five companies charged with health and safety offences following the Buncefield explosion will appear at the Old Bailey tomorrow.
Oil giant Total UK and four other companies are due to enter pleas to criminal charges relating to the 2005 explosion at the Hemel Hempstead oil depot.
Total and Hertfordshire Oil Storage Ltd, both based in Clarendon Road, Watford, are charged with failing to ensure the safety of their workers, as well as allowing fuel and chemicals to pollute the groundwater.
Also due to plead at the Central Criminal Court are TAV Engineering Ltd of Guildford, Motherwell Control Systems of Liverpool, and British Pipeline Agency Ltd of Hemel Hempstead.
Judge Calvert Smith will preside over the hearing listed for a noon start.
The explosion on December 11, 2005, the biggest ever in peacetime Europe, injured about 40 people and cost millions of pounds in damage to local homes and businesses.
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