FIRST there was a damp smell dubbed Le Pong because it was thought to have come from France.

Then there was the acrid whiff of paint fumes when a fan at the giant Ford factory broke down.

Now traders at a Southampton industrial estate are kicking up a stink over another sickening stench that is getting right up their noses.

Council environment chiefs have launched an investigation into the source of the nasty niff.

Owners and workers at businesses in Portswood House industrial estate in Third Avenue, Millbrook, say the smell at the site is getting worse by the day and is becoming bad for business.

They claim the pong has been lurking for several months but has now become so offensive that several businesses have contacted the city council in a desperate attempt to get rid of it.

Some traders believe the smell could be coming from the Millbrook Point Sewage Works on the other side of the railway line which runs along the back of the industrial site, while others think it might be the result of work going on at the docks.

Wherever it is coming from, it is causing plenty of wrinkled noses.

Solent Plumbing Services manager Dave Adams likened the smell to farmyard silage or rotting flesh.

"It smells like something has died. It is rancid," he said.

"Customers are coming in to the shop complaining."

Rob Frampton, a workshop assistant at Millbrook Motor Services, added: "It gets right up your nose, especially when a train goes past and wafts it over. People are holding coats over their noses."

Dean Hurst, a director of Panelrite, said: "Some days it really takes your breath away. You can almost taste it. It is really unpleasant."

A spokesman from the environmental health department said the council was investigating the matter as a result of complaints.

In Novmber 2002 a damp smell that plagued residents for months was blamed on a faulty water cleaning system in the paint shop at Ford's Swaythling plant. The stink temporarily resurfaced a few months later in June 2003 and at one point was dubbed Le Pong because locals thought the whiff was being blown in from France.

Earlier this year the Daily Echo revealed that a huge extraction fan, which normally gets rid of vehicle paint fumes at Ford, had broken down. It took up to 12 weeks before the equipment was replaced.

Environmental health officers were brought in to inspect the problem and they carried out air monitoring tests.