North Butte Metal Company Ltd, registered in Greenland Street, Camden Town, and its director Richard Austin Smyth pleaded guilty to a total of 13 charges at Walthamstow Magistrates' Court.
”We gave North Butte Metal Company's management ample opportunity and time to comply with the law, but they chose to ignore our advice. “
– Rob Argent, Environment Agency
The charges were brought by the Environment Agency and related to the company's scrap metal site at Staffa Road, Leyton.
The company was fined 2,000 for each of six offences and ordered to pay 10,000 in costs. Mr Smyth also admitted seven charges and was fined a total of 7,000.
A number of warnings and official notices from the Environment Agency concerning the illegal operation were “ignored” by the company from May 2003 until April 2004, the Agency said.
Inspections
During 13 inspection visits in 2004, investigating officers found a “vast array of scrap metals including three transformers, scrap cars, car components, tyres, scrap motor cycles, gas cylinders and vehicle batteries”.
Vehicles had also been stacked in piles between four and five metres high on unsuitable ground, the Agency said. Normally, end of life vehicles must be stored on an impermeable surface such as concrete, to prevent contaminants seeping into the ground.
A “huge pile of tyres was spilling out of the shed in which they were stored” and a hydraulic grab machine was “leaking hydraulic oil”. The Agency said little effort had been made to limit its impact on the environment.
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Investigating enforcement officer for the Environment Agency Rob Argent said: “We are pleased the court has imposed these fines. We gave North Butte Metal Company's management ample opportunity and time to comply with the law, but they chose to ignore our advice and instructions and have ended up paying the consequences.”
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