A High Court judge ruled today that oil giant Total UK was negligent over Britain's biggest peacetime explosion.

Mr Justice David Steel issued a summary judgment after hearing that both Total and Hertfordshire Oil Storage Ltd (HOSL), a joint venture with Chevron, had agreed that negligence was responsible for the huge fire at the Buncefield oil depot in Hertfordshire in December 2005.

The ruling came during a preliminary hearing of a case in which victims of the blast are suing the oil companies and HOSL for up to £1 billion in damages.

Yesterday, in a statement to The Times, Total UK said that the duty supervisor at the time was responsible for the explosion but it refused to admit either civil or criminal liability for the incident.

Today, lawyers for the claimants, which include insurance companies, small businesses and about 280 families whose properties were damaged or destroyed by the blast, asked the judge to declare Total responsible.

The judge issued his ruling after a complicated debate over the legal meaning of negligence. It means the issue will not need to be argued when the case goes to a full hearing in October — a small but significant early victory for the claimants.

However, Total UK intends to argue that it should not be liable for damages because it could not reasonably have foreseen that it would cause the destruction it did.

The fire began at an HOSL facility within the Buncefield compound at 6am on December 11, 2005. Forty-three people were injured. All 630 businesses on the nearby Maylands Industrial Estate were disrupted and there was damage to housing in Dacorum and St Albans.

A report in 2006 by an independent investigation board did not apportion blame, but found that human error and faulty safety equipment were responsible.

Today, Mr Justice David Steel was told that the oil company had admitted negligence on April 22 and HOSL on May 1. Chevron, another defendant, denies negligence.

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