Four former US Navy vessels contaminated with chemicals including asbestos are heading to Hartlepool to be dismantled at a breaker's yard in the town.

Mr Justice Maurice Kay today ordered that work to dismantle the ships could not begin until the courts had heard the various legal challenges to the controversial deal, which should take place in December.

He said that until a key hearing due to take place in the week beginning December 8, the ships could dock but no work should take place "except for measures to make and keep them safe".

The injunction was welcomed by environmental campaigners, who vowed to fight on to “send the ships back to America where they belong”.

Able UK, the owners of the yard in Hartlepool due to receive the toxic fleet, bitterly fought the order, saying that it would result in “very considerable financial losses” amounting to £220,000 a week.

The judge decided that an injunction should be granted, saying that witness statements from the company “did not provide wholly convincing evidence” on the likely consequences of an injunction.

The judge added: “I have come to the conclusion that the least risk of injustice in this particular case will arise if the injunction as sought is granted, rather than refused.”

Able UK will ask the High Court to declare that the Environment Agency was wrong to recently agree with submissions by Friends of the Earth that a modification to a waste management licence granted to Able allowing it to dispose of the ships was in fact “invalid”.

At a later hearing in December three Hartlepool residents will, if it is still necessary, apply for a judicial review against Hartlepool Borough Council.

Neil Gregan, Stephen Hall, and Ben Marley, who all live near the Able UK site, believe the ships are in a poor condition and could pose considerable environmental risks to ecologically-important sites nearby.

Mr Gregan said after today's hearing: “We are very pleased to have got the injunction, but the fight must still go on to send these ships back to America, their country of origin. They should not be dismantled here.”