The green group took the measure after its waterless Toray plates proved inconsistent in quality.

Chairman Mark Fairbrass, who was incredibly sad and disappointed by the problem, told PrintWeek he would be looking into Bousfields new alcohol-free fount solution.

The Uckfield printer had also installed a water-recycling device, which could save around 140,000 litres a year. If you are running a conventional printer you must first put the water through a reverse osmosis unit to produce distilled water. For every three litres of tap water used, two would go down the drain, but we can now pump these litres back into the tank.

The upheaval at Beacon Press has given an opportunity for Fairbrass to review its kit. It has installed a second Heidelberg six-colour 102 with coater and extended delivery, and sold two of its three Speedmaster 74s.

Dampeners are now fitted on all the presses, but despite this being a fair sized engineering job, they would have had to be refitted prior to selling them on anyway, added Fairbrass.

There is a huge pressure of prices and Torays inconsistency meant we were having to remake plates. But we will be back with waterless as soon as possible and are confident that Toray will have the problem sorted by autumn, he said.

Toray sales and marketing executive Graham Whittle said that although not all CTP users had experienced problems, the importance of The Beacon Press as a customer meant it was imperative to resolve it.

We are bringing a new production line on-stream in August and were very confident that our problems will be solved and Mark [Fairbrass] will be 100% waterless again, said Whittle.

By Rachel Barnes