The court heard the then boss of the former hospital waste company Healthcare Environmental Services Limited claim the UK Government wanted him to break the law to tackle a storage crisis in the industry, writes our correspondent, Michael McQuaid.
Mr Pettigrew alleges that the then Health Secretary Matt Hancock directed firms to use unlicensed sites to get rid of mounting rubbish. Mr Pettigrew also accuses the Scottish Environment Protection Agency of treating his staff “like gangsters” during a probe into alleged illegal storage of human body parts and other waste.
Mr Pettigrew, 56, and his former company, Healthcare Environmental Services Limited (HES), are on trial over claims that waste was stored for longer than permitted and SEPA officers were obstructed in their duties. His company employed 400 people at 13 UK sites.
Hamilton Sheriff Court heard that HES stored and processed waste from every hospital in Scotland and also had 40 per cent of the English market. It had an annual turnover of £35 million but went into liquidation in 2019.
SEPA officers have told the court they found bins full of human body parts and other organic waste piled up at the Shotts facility in Lanarkshire. The material had allegedly remained untouched despite an order made for its removal.
Storage problem
But, giving evidence, Mr Pettigrew insisted that storage was a UK-wide problem due to a lack of incinerators to burn waste. He said he founded HES in 1997 but had to transport waste collected from hospitals to incinerators in England as Scotland has no such facilities. Mr Pettigrew said his solution was to construct a £13 million pyrolysis plant at Shotts where waste would be broken down using heated gas. But his plans were frustrated by delays in SEPA dealing with a licence application.
Mr Pettigrew said as time went on his “multi award-winning” company appeared to be regarded as a “problem child”, with routine SEPA visits happening two or three times a week which he thought was “over the top”.
He told his lawyer, advocate Thomas Ross KC: “SEPA treated us very poorly, they treated us like gangsters.” Mr Pettigrew explained that there were capacity issues at one of the company’s plants in England, prompting him to attend a meeting with government officials in London in September 2018.
He said: “England’s Environment Agency gave dispensation for seven unlicensed sites to take waste. I told the Cabinet Office that was illegal and I would not do it. I asked if I would receive a ‘get out of jail free’ card but was told that I had seven days to comply or (the then Prime Minister) Teresa May would know my name.
“They wanted to hide the situation from prying eyes. The UK Government, along with the Scottish Government, didn’t want to admit that the UK had an infrastructure issue. Matt Hancock, the Health Secretary at that time, chaired a Government Cobra meeting the next day to instigate putting these contingency plans in place.”
Export
Mr Pettigrew also said the Government changed the rules regarding exports to allow waste to be sent to mainland Europe. He claimed HES’s reputation was then “dragged through the muck”. Mr Pettigrew said the government instructed NHS Trusts not to make payments that were due to HES and ordered the company’s bank to withdraw its facilities.
In October 2018 he put £550,000 of his own money into HES as suppliers were demanding to be paid up front. But in December the company could no longer afford to pay its workers and had to lay them off. He told Mr Ross: “It was one of the hardest days of my life.”
Mr Pettigrew said he had tried to sell HES as a going concern and was close to an £18 million deal with an Australian company, but claimed that was vetoed by the UK Government who said there would be no sale before a receiver was appointed.
Death threats
Mr Pettigrew also claimed today (11 May) that he received death threats after the demise of his company.
Defence advocate Thomas Ross KC asked if there had been any “personal animosity” shown to him when staff were made redundant in December 2018. Pettigrew replied: “I received numerous death threats – and from suppliers who had not been paid. A few of those death threats became real and the police had to become involved. They gave me a unique code because there was a certain threat level.”
Pettigrew also claimed that after clashing with the UK Government over how to deal with surplus waste there is no chance he can return to the industry in which he worked for 35 years.
He said: “I’m untouchable now. No company would ever accept me or even be seen with me because of Government involvement. Staff have told me on numerous occasions that they are not even allowed to be seen talking to me. But I take my professionalism very seriously.”
The trial, before Sheriff Liam Murphy, continues.
[updated on 11 May at 4.45pm]
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