"This case illustrates our commitment to tackling sites that operate illegally without a waste management licence. In order to reduce the risks to people and to the environment, anyone who handles waste needs to take all necessary steps ensure that it is handled correctly. Staffordshire has numerous permitted waste management sites that operate legally. This conviction sends out a positive message to those sites operating within the law that the Environment Agency will pursue illegal waste operations"
Jackie Bailey, Environment Agency
Two men trading as A & D Environmental Skip Hire were fined £20,000 (£10,000 each) and ordered to pay costs of £1,731.67on 23 April 2007 at Burton-upon-Trent Magistrates Court. The defendants pleaded guilty to keeping and treating waste on land in Burton-on-Trent, according to Environment Agency News.
The Court was told that following complaints that an illegal waste transfer station was being operated at Hanbury Grange, Environment Agency officers visited the site on two occasions in August 2006.
The Agency says that the visits demonstrated that the site was in fact being used as a waste transfer station and on the second visit there was more waste as well as a skip marked A & D Environmental Skip Hire.
Mr David Roy Prince attended a formal interview with Environment Agency Officers during which he explained that A & D Environmental Skip Hire was a trading partnership between himself and Mr Adrian Knight. He told officers that Mr Knight was responsible for the site operations.
Mr Knight told the Court that he was responsible for the activities that had taken place at the site and that Mr Prince had simply provided financial backing and was not responsible for the activities that occurred on the site.
After the court case, Jackie Bailey an Environment Agency officer, who was involved in the investigation said:
"This case illustrates our commitment to tackling sites that operate illegally without a waste management licence. In order to reduce the risks to people and to the environment, anyone who handles waste needs to take all necessary steps ensure that it is handled correctly. Staffordshire has numerous permitted waste management sites that operate legally. This conviction sends out a positive message to those sites operating within the law that the Environment Agency will pursue illegal waste operations."
[Source: Environment Agency website]