England Leads the Way

Posted on 20th March 2026 at 11:46

The latest data on worldwide drug consumption has just been published. This is an extensive study looking at drug and drug metabolites in city waste water.

Results are expressed as drug concentrations in mg per 1000 population per day.

Unsurprisingly, drug use peaks at the weekend.

Below is the table for BZE the Cocaine metabolite.

Of ALL the European cities, Middlesbrough leads the way for Cocaine use.

Middlesbrough waste water has the second highest concentration in the world for BZE the main cocaine metabolite. (More on BZE below.)

Second only to the appropriately named Whitehorse in Canada.

https://www.euda.europa.eu/publications/pods/waste-water-analysis_en

For the full report, please paste the above link.

Daily mean Country: City Numbers are mg/1000p/Day

5242.54 CA: Whitehorse

2786.38 GB: Middlesbrough

1576.48 CL: Copiapo

1415.62 GB: Bristol

1405.43 ES: Lleida

1382.14 BE: Antwerp Zuid

1238.19 ES: Granada

1171.57 NL: Amsterdam

1076.86 CH: Geneva

1055.01 CH: Zurich (2)

1038.88 BE: Li�ge-Oupeye

1020.47 BE: Brussels (2)

1007.84 ES: Santiago

1002.6 BE: Charleroi-Est

998.25 AT: Kufstein

996.93 ES: Barcelona

948.65 CH: Luzern

926.98 BE: Namur

907.4 NL: Rotterdam (2)

895.98 CH: Lugano

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Doing nothing has a cost

Posted on 17th March 2026 at 13:48

Health & Safety at Work Act 1974 Section 40

Section 40 Onus of proving limits of what is practicable

In any proceedings for an offence under any of the relevant statutory provisions consisting of a failure to comply with a duty or requirement to do something so far as is practicable or so far as is reasonably practicable, or to use the best practicable means to do something, it shall be for the accused to prove (as the case may be) that it was not practicable or not reasonably practicable to do more than was in fact done to satisfy the duty or requirement, or that there was no better practicable means than was in fact used to satisfy the duty or requirement.

This is known in Health, Safety and Occupational Hygiene sectors as

“The reverse burden of proof.”

What steps did your organisation take to prevent an accident which has occurred?

Bearing in mind that the “accident” did happen.

If you are not testing in YOUR workplace, have you taken practicable steps to prevent that accident?

At Agriyork400 Ltd we have many years of experience in drug and alcohol testing.

What we do:

Evaluate a company’s existing drug and alcohol policy to advise on compliance from several viewpoints.

Challenge at a tribunal.

Equalities Act/ Anti-Discrimination Laws

Data Protection

If your company does not have a policy, we can provide a template which is legally defensible.

Testing

We provide donor consent forms, drug screening tests, train the trainer sessions so that your own staff can perform the testing.

Tests are simple to use, and the results are available within 10 minutes.

We offer urine and oral fluid Point of Collection Tests.

We recommend oral fluid as it is more hygienic to sample, difficult to adulterate, (= cheat), indicates recent use and therefore potential impairment.

A box of 25 tests costs £275.

These screening tests detect the 8 most commonly abused drugs, both illicit and prescription, and also include an alcohol indicator.

5 random tests per month gives you a powerful deterrent policy.

£55 per month.

Will you be telling the HSE investigator that the programme as briefly described above was “not reasonable”?

Please let us know how we can help.

2026 Carriage Charges

Posted on 17th March 2026 at 13:42

Freight and parcel rates have increased dramatically in the UK, with additional fuel surcharges

Despite absorbing most of these additional costs, we are constantly monitoring our costs.

Effective, March 17th, despite the tensions in the Middle East, we will maintain our current charges.

This is of course a fluid situation and liable to change.

Full pallets to UK locations will be £70 each.

Mitch Foster Business Development Manager

Posted on 11th September 2025 at 10:59

Welcome Mitch Foster: New Business Development Manager at Agriyork 400 Ltd

We're pleased to announce that Mitch Foster has joined Agriyork 400 Ltd as our new Business Development Manager.

Based at our Pocklington headquarters in Lockwood Court, East Yorkshire, Mitch brings valuable experience in international markets and a strong understanding of laboratory consumables and sampling solutions.

What Mitch Brings to the Team

With a background in B2B laboratory sales, Mitch will be focusing on expanding our partnerships across the food, dairy, pharmaceutical and drug testing sectors.

Mitch has a broad range of skills in international markets, and his expertise will help us continue delivering the reliable, specialist service our customers depend on.

Get in Touch

If you'd like to discuss your laboratory consumables requirements or learn more about our aseptic sampling solutions, Mitch would be happy to hear from you.

The extra touch

Posted on 27th May 2025 at 12:37

What is outstanding customer service?

With this week being a Bank holiday weekend:........

When you need to trust your sample container, give us a call.

Our sample vials are used in many critical applications.

Food and water testing, dairy products, pharmaceutical studies, clinical trials.

A wide range of applications and processes which do not stop for Bank Holidays.

So what's the guy in the picture doing?

Well that's Neil Jones, the MD and he loading boxes of vials into his car and taking them to a key customer.

Normal carriage over the holiday period would have meant our customer's lab running out of vials.

The "personal" touch meant we could act, and ensure the vials got delivered..

Can your suppliers do this?

New Urine Beaker

Posted on 13th February 2025 at 12:07

We are pleased to offer a new style of beaker.

Sterile, 120ml capacity with temperature strip.

Contact us for more details. Case quantity is 300 beakers.

Drug Driving - Testing Times North and South

Posted on 9th January 2025 at 13:43

In Merseyside, more than 3 times more drug drivers arrested compared with alcohol cases.

Merseyside Roads Policing Ch Insp Stuart McIver said people "still aren't getting the message".

Between 1 December and 1 January, 360 people were arrested for drug drive related offences, 110 arrested for alcohol related offences and 38 arrested for failure to comply.

"Driving under the influence – whether that's drugs or alcohol – is absolutely not acceptable," Ch Insp McIver said.

"I feel frustrated that, clearly, some people still aren't getting the message."

Operation Limit is a national campaign which runs each year from 1 December to January.

Meanwhile in the south of the country:

A total of 140 people were arrested for drug driving in December, nearly double the number of drink driving arrests during the same period.

Figures published by Surrey Police as part a month-long winter crackdown on drink and drug driving reveal that officers made 196 arrests -140 for drug driving and 84 for drink driving.

The overlap in numbers accounts for some people being arrested on suspicion of both offences.

Surrey Police said these results show that drug driving is becoming more prominent than drink driving in the county.

As part of Operation Limit, officers conducted increased patrols and set up random stop check sites along busy roads to provide a visible deterrent to offenders.

Watch our new drug test video

Posted on 14th June 2024 at 13:43

Agriyork400 are pleased to announce that their partners

AccuBioLab have introduced a new oral fluid drug test.

Don't get into your car if you have taken drugs.

Watch the video at the foot of the page.

Test yourself before you drive.

Your spatial awareness can be affected.

A new rapid oral fluid drug test.

For many people driving is a part of their workday.

Unfortunately, in the UK there has been a marked increase in illicit drug use.

Cocaine and Cannabis are the two most common drugs, but of course, alcohol is frequently a factor too.

Stick with an attached Lid

Posted on 31st May 2024 at 09:24

We are more than 35 years ahead of the curve.

From July 2024 EU Law, ( and you will already be seeing that UK manufacturers are already following this requirement. )

States:

Member States shall ensure that single-use plastic products listed in Part C of the Annex that have caps and lids made of plastic may be placed on the market only if the caps and lids remain attached to the containers during the products’ intended use stage.

Product design requirements

• Tethered caps and lids for all beverage containers and bottles up to 3 litres, 5 years after the entry into force of the directive (to be applied 5 years after the entry into force of the Directive).

UK manufacturers are following this directive in order to harmonise their production lines. ( and make their products easier to recycle )

Since 1987, Agriyork400 Ltd have been supplying their plastic vials with attached lids.

When your sample vial contains important material use a snap seal design from Agriyork400.

One piece construction = easier to recycle

No lid on the bench = less chance of environmental contamination.

Buy from Agriyork400 and help save the planet.

All our vials have attached lids.

The vials are aseptic by manufacture, and come with a variety of seals.

SNAP, LOCK, and CUSTODY.

Different styles for different applications.

What does "Aseptic by manufacture" mean?

Our vials are produced from a single slug of polypropylene.

In a hot injection moulding process, the attached lid and the body of the vial are formed from this slug of plastic.

The vials leave the mould with the lid attached.

This prevents microbial ingress.

This advantage is not possible with a detached lid.

Also, in the lab the detached lid offers the potential for contamination as the lid has to held or laid on a surface.

Please contact us to discuss which vial is best suited to your application.

Cyber Security it matters!

Posted on 26th March 2024 at 11:26

We are proud to be a member of the Business Resilience Centre

Agriyork400 Ltd follow best practices to protect our suppliers and customers from internet fraud and scams.

Our finance manager J. Jennings told the group:

"Internet fraud, especially invoice scams are becoming more prevalent in today's business world. We employ rigorous checks to ensure all banking transactions are protected for all our clients."