Haulier and hotelier fined for illegal waste

Three men from the North East, including a haulage company boss, have been ordered to pay more than £10,000 for illegally landfilling waste.

The haulier, Alan Waggott, of Howden-le-Wear, near Crook was fined £6,007, while David and Alan Bradley, brothers and joint owners of Hardwicke Hall Manor Hotel, near Blackhall in East Durham, were fined £3,855 and £971 respectively after appearing at Newton Aycliffe Magistrates Court on 15 August.

All three men pleaded guilty to various environmental offences. Chris Bunting, prosecuting told the court that in September 2016 officers from the Environment Agency visited the hotel and found part of the car park, close to a watercourse, covered in various waste materials. The edge of the car park had suffered from landslip, so the Bradleys had repaired the damaged area.

However, Hardwicke Hall Manor Hotel was not authorised to dispose of waste by landfilling as it did not have an environmental permit. Environment Agency officers saw a fully laden waste vehicle arrive on site run by Alan Waggott Haulage and the waste was seen to be of the same type that could be seen on the ground.

Photographs revealed a range of waste materials that should never have been deposited in such a mixed state at a location where no permit was in place. Officers identified traces of bonded asbestos - a hazardous waste - although it was made clear that Waggott was responsible for only a fraction of the total waste material that had been used.

The court was told that Waggott was contracted to remove waste from construction sites in North Ormesby and Stockton-on-Tees. While paperwork issued by Waggott claimed that this waste was to be deposited at a permitted landfill site, 36 wagon loads were tipped for free at the hotel.

Having ordered tipping operations to stop and given instructions for the illegally tipped waste to be removed and disposed of at a permitted facility, a subsequent Environment Agency inspection discovered that additional waste had been deposited in the car park.

In mitigation, Ben Pegman, for Waggott, confirmed that his client had acted on trust, but recognised he needed to improve his working methods to ensure he was acting lawfully. John Elwood for the Bradleys showed photographs of fly tipped waste that formed part of the problem and said they never realised at the outset that a permit may have been needed.

Passing sentence, the court said there was no doubt the incident was clearly for monetary gain. Rachael Caldwell for the Environment Agency said: “We will not tolerate abuses of the environmental permitting system.

"Those who ignore environmental laws can cause serious pollution to the environment, put communities at risk and undermine legitimate business and the investment and growth that go with it. We hope that the sentencing handed down today acts as a deterrent to those who may think they can get away with it.”

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