The police was working along with representatives of the Environment Agency, Wessex Water and Environment Enforcement Unit. The team comprised of 12 police officers.

The first arrest was made at the Porter Skip Hire Ltd, located in a village near Chippenham. The police arrested two men, aged 28 and 39, at the site. The first person was a suspect of theft of lead piping – he was released later after being given a warning. The second man was suspected of dealing with stolen goods – he was caught at the site but has not been charged as yet.

The second incident of arrest involved a man aged 25 and a boy who is twelve years old. They were found in a van that was driving out of the scrap yard.

Martin Schorah, the sector inspector, said, “We will be seizing some materials from the site, which have been photographed and documented before being removed. We’re grateful for the help of partner agencies, who have appeared today to point out material that is manufactured or used by their companies, including Wessex Water.”

When the raid was being made on Porter Skip Hire, the owner as well as six staff members was also present at the site. They all provided full cooperation for the operation.

The police believed that these people had arrived at the scrap site in order to sell stolen materials.

For more information on skip hire services, contact us at 0844 477 2904.

The first visits of the Environment Agency were between September 2010 and May 2011. After these visits, several verbal and written warnings had been sent to the company and the waste was cleared by June 2011.

During the investigation by the Environment Agency, it was requested that GR Shorthouse should provide Waste Transfer Notes – these are written records of the waste entering and leaving the site. 294 transfer notes were supplied by the company for the period between 15 January 2009 and 17 December 2010. However, most of these documents were not completed with correct details.

The representatives of Environment Agency told the court that waste skips were found at the site for which the firm had no environmental permit

There was a cooperative attitude by the firm and it eventually came into compliance. The court ordered the firm to pay £14,000 for operating a regulated waste facility without an environmental permit and £2,000 each for three counts of failing to complete waste transfer notes correctly. Additionally, the company had been asked to pay costs of £4,410 and a £15 victim surcharge.

Once the hearing was over, a spokesman for the Environment Agency said, “We take waste crime very seriously as it can have negative effects on the local area and community.  For this reason we did not hesitate to take action against the company involved.”

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The skip hire firm of Kenneth John Harrison had been involved in storing and sorting skips of plastics, toys and building rubble. The company had been in business for almost a year before being convicted.

It was pointed out in the hearing in Lincoln Magistrates’ Court that permit was not obtained by Harrison’s firm for the Old Glass Recycling Facility, in Great Northern Terrace, Lincoln.

The customers confirmed to the fact that they had made payment to the skip hire firm for getting rid of their waste.

The Environment Agency officers investigated the location in June 2010 and witnessed a skip dumping a variety of waste materials at the city council landfill site in Great Northern Terrace. The illegal waste management activity was caught on CCTV. Harrison later admitted that he was the driver.

According to the prosecutor, Miriam Tordoff, Harrison had been continually ignoring the Environment Agency advice. “Operating illegally has an impact on legitimate operators because there’s potential to be able to undercut licensed operators,” she said.

There were several waste crimes that Harrison, 47, admitted to. These incidents took place between November 8, 2009, and April 5, 2010, and from April 6, 2010, to October 13, 2010. Finally, he was found guilty of fly-tipping on June 4, 2010.

Harrison’s solicitor, Justin Atkinson, presented his defense case by saying that permit offences had been the result of negligence rather than any deliberate plan.

For illegal waste management activities at the site in January 2009, and for burning waste at the same place in 2008, Harrison had to face previous convictions. Finally, he is charged with a fine of £1,500. He is also asked to pay £15 as victims’ surcharge and £1,000 costs. Apart from this, he also has to do 250 hours unpaid work.

For more information on skip hire services, contact us at 0844 477 2904.

The two companies have been running skip hire services involving sorting of mixed waste at a single premises in Barnsley. The company representatives had to appear before Barnsley magistrates for their illegal waste management activities.

It was stated in the court by the Environment Agency officers that they had witnessed a number of skips full of waste blazing and booming explosions. This generated a lot of smoke in the Boulder Bridge Lane area of Cudworth last March. The investigation took place after many residents filed complaints against the firms.

The incidents of fires continued and there were three more witnessed in the following weeks. A vehicle was found at the site that was traced to an employee at one of the firms.

The employee was also seen entering the site with his vehicle at midnight in April. This happened just before a fire started at the site. The employee was arrested. During investigation, he admitted to the crime but claimed he was only following orders of the director of these companies, Dean Ryder.

Even though one of the firms, Grantscope Ltd, has an environmental permit for the area of Boulder Bridge Lane, the permit does not allow burning of any kind.

The court ordered a fine of £200 to the employee, Clifford, and £5,000 to Ryder. Both these men and the two companies were ordered to pay costs that totalled to £15,076 to the Environment Agency.

The Boulder Bridge area “continues to be a high priority area for the Environment Agency,” stated officer Brad Haystead. He further stated that officers and operators have been making efforts to “improve the environment and minimise impact on the local community but in cases like this, where there is deliberate serious offending, we’ll use our enforcement powers to take action.”

For more information on skip hire services, contact us at 0844 477 2904.

Prosecutor for the Environment Agency, Diana Maudslay, presented her findings before the Derby Crown Court which stated that Byard had been running a skip hire business from his home address at the Hillside Farm in Wingerworth without a permit.

Byard has been charged with two offences at the farm that were committed between November 2008 and August 2010.

The first surveillance of operations of the skip hire firm was conducted by the environmental crime officers in March 2009. They witnessed skips full of waste arriving at the farm and leaving empty afterwards. The main constituents were household waste, wood, electrical waste and contaminated waste. All of this was being brought in at the site in vans with “Byard Skip Hire” written on the side.

A few more piles of waste, about three metres high, were also found at the site. These consisted of wood metal, cable, bricks, concrete and soil.

It was found at the time of the trial that Byard had been running the business since 1995 and these two offences were only the latest in a string of convictions. In 2008, Byard had been found guilty of twenty similar offences. He also had to face prosecution for environmental crimes in 1997 and 2000.

Ms Maudslay told the court that the business was able to make “considerable” amount of savings by running the site without an environmental permit.

After the case, Paul Salter, senior environmental crime officer at the Environment Agency, said: “This was a case of repeated offending, despite warnings and previous convictions. It was driven by greed, with no thought to the effects upon people living near the site, nor the environment.”

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Anthony Shepherd is the owner of Albert Hill Skip Hire, a company based in Darlington. He is hoping that the matter will be resolved by next month during the meeting with the creditor.

The controversy with the skip hire firm has been going on for several years and the company had been subjected to many court cases brought about by the local council and the Environment Agency. These mainly relate to the way the skip hire firm conducts its business.

The recent incident was a scene of large fire that burned for almost a week. A group of local residents were found protesting against it.

HM Revenue and Customs gave out a winding-up order to the company and this was also printed in the London Gazette on Monday, December 19. According to this, a petition was filed to wind up the company and a hearing will be held at the Royal Courts of Justice in January.

Mr. Shepherd is hopeful that there will not be any need to wind up the company and that the matter will be resolved soon. “It’s something that accountants are looking at. Everything is under control. I can’t give out any details about it. It’s top secret. The company’s not closing.”

The local councillor, Nick Wallis, along with other councillors had a meeting last month regarding how to deal with the company. It was stated by the spokesman for HMRC, “HMRC only initiates winding up action where it believes this is the best course of action to protect the interests of the Exchequer. There is little HMRC can do for a business whose viability is dependent on not paying the UK taxes to which they are liable.”

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Approximately 29,000 tonnes of waste, which mainly consisted of construction waste, was dumped by William O’Grady at two different sites near Caernarfon, Gwynedd. The first charge was in 2007 for illegal waste management on land at Bryn Awelon, Llanfaglan near Caernarfon. The second site was his home at Tyddyn Whisgin, Caeathro, and this charge was in 2008. The construction waste included bricks, plastic, wood, glass, plaster and insulation fibres. On one site, about 27,500 tonnes of waste was dumped, while on the other site, about 1,500 tonnes of waste was found.

After a three-week trial, O’Grady was found guilty by the Chester Crown Court. The court ordered him to carry out 300 hours of unpaid work. These charges were levied against O’Grady along with his two companies.

According to Sian Williams from the Environment Agency Wales, “The defendant… chose to carry on with his actions showing a blatant disregard for the farmer and the environment”. The prosecution also pointed out before the court that the land at Bryn Awelon, next to The Foryd Bay nature reserve, was a site of special scientific interest.

The waste was found to be producing leachate, a polluting liquid that is produced by waste that is rotting. The puddles contained bubbles of escaping gas, which was probably hydrogen sulphide. The contaminated waste was a threat to the wildlife as well as people nearby.

William O’Grady was found guilty of 12 charges related to illegal dumping of construction waste.

Siam Williams said, “These laws are there not only to protect the environment, but also to make sure there is a level playing field for other companies that operate legally. In behaving as he did, the defendant illegally undercut responsible, law-abiding waste companies.”

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William Matthew O’Grady, and his company, of Cibyn Industrial Estate, Caernarfon, did not accept the charges levied against them of having deposited the waste on farmland near Caernarfon.

Once the announcement of the decision was made by the jury, there was further information put before the court of O’Grady and his firm being responsible for the biggest illegal landfill site the courts had ever dealt with in North Wales.

Judge Niclas Parry said, “William Matthew O’Grady, the time has come to say enough is enough.” He further stated, “It is abundantly clear you have no intention of doing anything other than carry on to offend in this way with impunity. You were on bail for identical, albeit far, far more serious offences. Even knowing that, knowing that the agency was watching, you could not stop yourself from offending again. Clearly a sentence must be imposed that is a deterrent but also a message to others who would seek to offend in this way. A custodial sentence is appropriate now.”

It was told to the jury that O’Grady had contacted a farmer to sell him “soil improver” that could be ploughed into the soil. However, upon arrival it was found that it included about 70 tonnes of treated and untreated wood, plastic, rubber and paper which was spread over 16 acres. This was clearly an unacceptable behaviour as these pollutants would harm animals, contaminate all future crops ploughed on the farm, enter the food chain, have damaging effects on the environment, and leave landowners with a large bill to clear their land.

For more information on skip hire services, contact us at 0844 477 2904.

The Preston Magistrates Court has ordered the company to pay a fine of £1,000 and another sum of £8,088.33 for the costs. There is also a victim surcharge levied against the firm.

The District Judge Peter Ward, during the fly-tipping trial, said that he did not accept claim the company was making that all it was doing was taking back its property.

This incident was investigated by street scene officers from West Lancashire Borough who were called to the Pennington Avenue to carry out their investigation. The council spokesman presented in their report that the bosses of skip hire company did not accept the charges against them. They said they had not done anything wrong. This left the council with no choice but to go ahead with the prosecution.

The fly-tipping incident has now been referred to the Environment Agency. The Agency is responsible for licensing skip hire companies.

Portfolio holder for Health and Leisure, Councillor Andrew Fowler, said: “This is a very satisfactory outcome. This was a company who thought they could dump a skip full of refuse on our land and get away with it. They even wanted to charge us for removing it. Thankfully the judge backed the officers and realised that this action was wholly unacceptable.”

The skip hire company’s spokesman responded by saying, “It was most unfortunate that the Court found the skip company guilty as charged. In this case the skip was placed adjacent to the flats on a grassed area within the grounds of the property.”

For more information on skip hire services, contact us at 0844 477 2904.

Kenneth Harrison, sole director of KJ Harrison Limited, pleaded guilty to two charges, that included operation of illegal waste site at the old Glass Recycling Facility in Great Northern Terrace. He had been using this site for the past one year.

A trial took place at Lincoln Magistrates’ Court where Harrison was also found guilty of fly-tipping waste close to the old City of Lincoln landfill site. The officers of the Environment Agency reported to the court that they had seen Harrison drive to the former landfill site with a skip full of waste. Shortly afterwards, he was seen returning from the site with an empty skip. Evidence was also provided against him in the form of photographs of a pile of waste.

Harrison denied the charges against him and told the court that he had gone to the site only to check whether the gearing mechanism on his skip lorry was in working order or not.

Ruby Hamid, prosecutor for the Environment Agency, reported that Harrison had convictions for operating this site without a permit in January 2009. Another conviction was for burning waste there in 2008. Both these offenses were deliberate.

“The defendant was fully aware of the requirement for an environmental permit and he failed to respond to advice” she said.

As Harrison continued to break the law, he was able to undercut his competitors because of all the money he had saved by not complying with the law.

“This creates an imbalance in the market and, if left unchecked, will result in more and more businesses operating illegally,” said Ms Hamid.

Harrison pleaded guilty to charges of storing and sorting of waste at a regulated facility without being authorized by an environmental permit.

For more information on skip hire services, contact us at 0844 477 2904.