The tanks in the tower are said to be "suspect"

They said the tank and others at Blackpool Tower must be "regarded as suspect" due to rusty reinforcement rods in their concrete supports.

Their report is due to be heard by Blackpool Council's Public Protection Sub Committee on Thursday.

Leisure Parcs, which owns the tower, said it was acting on the report.

'Catastrophic failure'

The licensing inspectors said no engineers' reports were available for the tank.

But they said even a "casual observer" could see rusted reinforcement rods were undermining the tank's concrete supports.

This effect had already caused adjacent tanks to be drained, said the inspection report.

"The local authority and management should take urgent steps to ascertain whether or not there is a significant risk of catastrophic failure in the remaining tanks that are full of water," it added.

Interim inspection

"Clearly any such failure would represent a major safety risk."

Geoff Sage, General Manager for Blackpool Tower and Circus, which is owned by Leisure Parcs, said: "On a recent annual inspection of the Tower Aquarium to coincide with the Zoo Licence Renewal some recommendations were made which we are now assessing and acting upon."

A three man team - which raised 14 areas of concern - carried out an interim inspection in April.