Sahara dust only 'partly responsible' for UK's worst pollution event in 10 years

Thin film of red dust enveloping parts of country for two weeks in 2014 came mostly from farms in mainland Europe and local emissions, study says

Britain's most serious air pollution event in the past 10 years was only partly caused by "natural" dust blowing in from the Sahara desert and mostly came from farmers fertilising their fields and industrial emissions from mainland Europe, a scientific paper has concluded.

The event, which lasted nearly two weeks in March and April in 2014, raised pollution levels to the highest level across much of Britain and France and for a short while spread a thin film of red dust across some parts of south-east England.