Nicolas Fletcher, trading as Dunstable Skip Hire and Luton Skip hire, pleaded guilty at Luton Crown Court earlier this month (November 9) to three offences which took place between November 2010 and October 2012.
Anne- Lise McDonald, prosecuting for the Environment Agency, said that for over two years significant amounts of waste had been brought onto the sites, tipped, sorted, stored and burned. She added that the sites did not have the appropriate infrastructure to deal with the waste and that Mr Fletcher saved about 85,000 by operating illegally.
She said he operated from Leagrave Station Car Park, Luton, for at least three months before being evicted by the land owner, leaving much of the waste on site. Mrs McDonald said at one time there were 41 skips at another site in Clophill Road site, Maulden, Bedfordshire, 36 of which contained building and household waste.
The Agency said there were also a number of hazardous waste items including lead batteries, cathode ray tubes, fridges, gas cylinders and material that commonly contains asbestos none of which was kept securely.
Mr Fletcher had been served a statutory notice to remove the waste from site by March 8 2012 but he failed to do it.
Convictions
The Court was told Mr Fletcher had previous environmental convictions for the same type of offences and his waste carriers licence had been revoked in 2011 due to these convictions.
The Agency added that within days of committal to the crown court for sentencing and proceeds of crime proceedings Mr Fletcher continued to offend on the Clophill Road site. Covert surveillance showed him taking empty skips to customers, bringing full skips back and tipping the waste onto the ground.
Judge Kay said Mr Fletcher had an astonishing record of flouting the law and has shown no remorse.
However, Julia Farrent, defence barrister, argued that Mr Fletcher was a hard worker whose actions caused no actual harm to human health.
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After the hearing Environment Agency officer Sarah Melvin said: “These are serious crimes that undermine legal businesses, cause damage to our environment and potentially endanger people’s health. We have the expertise and legal powers to tackle environmental crime, offenders should be aware that they can’t continue to break the law without there being consequences.”
A hearing to deal with a proceeds of crime application has been adjourned to 2013.
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