23/03/2006 - A haulage
company and its director were today ordered to pay
£3,876 in fines and costs for illegally dumping
waste at a Dorset farm. The case was brought by
the Environment Agency.
An Environment Agency officer
was travelling through Sturminster Newton, near
Blandford Forum, Dorset, when he saw a tipper lorry
loaded with soil leaving a building site and heading
off in a direction that did not lead to any known
disposal sites.
The vehicle was followed to Woodbridge
Farm, Peaceful Lane, Kings Stag, where it tipped
its load. There were a number of other tipper lorries
queuing to dump waste at the site.
Soil, brick rubble, broken concrete,
plastic and wood had been deposited in a field.
One of the drivers told the Agency
officer he was working for TR Watts Ltd of Wells
in Somerset, who had been sub-contracted to move
waste from a building site in Sturminster Newton.
The director of TR Watts, Thomas
Watts, approached a local farmer and arranged for
wastes to be taken to a local field for disposal.
This field did not have a waste management licence
and did not comply with the terms of an exempt activity.
TR Watts Limited, of Southway
Farmhouse, Polsham, Wells, Somerset and director
Thomas Watts were today fined a total of £2,500
and ordered to pay £1,376 costs by Weymouth
magistrates after pleading guilty to depositing
controlled waste and breaching a duty of care on
July 20, 2005 at Woodbridge Farm, Sturminster Newton
contrary to section 33 and 34 of the Environmental
Protection Act 11000.
Syan Tapp, prosecuting for the
Environment Agency, explained to magistrates that
the defendant was solely motivated by financial
gain. As well as avoiding the cost of lawful disposal
he persuaded a farmer to buy 800 tonnes of waste
which, in effect, created an illegal landfill.
‘From our investigations it became
clear the main contractor arranged disposal at a
number of sites all of which were either licensed
or exempt from the need to be licensed, but TR Watts,
that was sub-contracted to transport the waste,
chose to ignore these sites,’ said Clive Clasby
for the Environment Agency.
‘Thomas Watts gave contrary and
confused answers to interview questions and showed
he had a total ignorance of the requirements of
the duty of care,’ said Clive Clasby.
The Environment Agency’s free
24 hour hotline for reporting environmental incidents
is 0800 80 70 60.
