A Vat Room Operator noticed that there was a slight weep of spirit from the man way door on Vat 6 during a Vat to Vat transfer, so he decided to tighten the locking mechanism by turning the wheel. On doing so, the mechanism failed, leading to the loss of mature whisky from the Vat man way door to the site containment system.

On examination, the threaded steel rod that secures the locking mechanism was found to be worn at the point of operation, (see photos). Vat 6 was installed on site in 1974, and is thought to still have the original locking mechanism in use. This Vat man door is opened/closed on average once per week/10 days.