Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Pictures and video show extent of ‘catastrophic’ flooding at Fife firm

The company, whose warehouses are now covered in mud, is blaming Fife Council for failing to maintain the A91 road.

Matt Shaw, managing director of Gray Fabrication and the muddy water which swamped the factory. Image: Kim Cessford/DC Thomson
Matt Shaw, managing director of Gray Fabrication and the muddy water which swamped the factory. Image: Kim Cessford/DC Thomson

When heavy rain lashed down at the start of this week, a “river” of water and mud engulfed a Fife business.

At the peak of the flooding eight inches of water lay on the factory floor at Gray Fabrication in Cupar.

All 35 members of staff were sent home, just a few weeks after a similar flooding issue during Storm Babet.

Three days on, and following an extensive clean-up operation, the business only has three of its six workshops operational. The other three remain caked in mud.

Gray Fabrication flooded in 20 minutes

Managing director Matt Shaw said the business will take weeks to recover, with the cost in excess of £100,000.

He said: “It was an incredible amount of water which comes off the road and down into the factory. We were completely flooded within 20 minutes. It was catastrophic.

“We have a lot of big machinery which sits in pits which were all flooded. It’s really frustrating.

“Some of the machines will be out of action for weeks.”

And unlike a previous flooding incident, the business will not be able to make a claim on its insurance.

Within 20 minutes Gray Fabrication was completely flooded. Image: Kim Cessford/DC Thomson
Several of its large, expensive pieces of equipment sit in pits and are now out of action. Image: Kim Cessford/DC Thomson

Mr Shaw continued: “When we had bad flooding a couple of years ago we had to have three motors refurbished, which cost £45,000. It will cost more this time.

“The last time we were insured but when our policy came for renewal, they wanted a £40,000 excess. We couldn’t do that.

“We will have several machines out of action for months, the cost of repairing them, the cleaning costs and the cost of paying workers we’ve had to send home. It will end up costing the business more than £100,000.

“Meanwhile we’re only operating in half the space.”

Business blames Fife Council for flooding issues

Mr Shaw has hit out at Fife Council for failing to maintain gullies – designed to hold water at the side of the A91 road – which are full of leaves, mud and rubbish.

The local authority says gullies in this area have been recently cleared.

The managing director also highlights two pipes underneath the road which spill out water at a tremendous rate onto the road which leads to his factory.

“It’s something the council needs to investigate,” Mr Shaw added.

“I’ve been told these pipes were put in as a temporary measure 15 years ago. They aren’t connected to any drainage system.

“The other issue is the amount of mud and debris coming off the fields (on the other side of the A91) which is clogging up all the drains.

“The council are meant to be sending out drainage experts but this issue needs to be urgently addressed.”

Situation ‘unsustainable’

Gray Fabrication is one of the UK’s leading heavy steel fabrication companies with a long list of successful oil and gas and renewables projects.

It has previously worked on Orbital’s O2 tidal turbine which launched from the Port of Dundee in April 2021.

More recently it has been working for Babcock in Rosyth on its contract to deliver five Type 31 frigates.

Mr Shaw warned the current situation is “unsustainable”.

Three days after Monday’s flooding and some of the workshop are still full of mud. Image: Gray Fabrication.
The cost to the business will be more than £100,000. Image: Gray Fabrication.

He said: “This can’t go on. The owners will shut the doors unless this can be sorted – they’ll have to. We can’t work under water. It’s ridiculous.”

Fife Council’s service manager for roads maintenance Bill Liddle said it will investigate the problem.

He said: “The gullies in this area have recently been cleaned as part of our regular maintenance programme and the A91 was cleared again earlier this week.

“Flooding issues can be complex and we will be investigating the cause here to see if there is anything we can do to resolve the situation.”

Conversation