Haulage firm and its director fined for moving waste in and out of illegal site

A haulage company and its director have been ordered to pay £9,923 for moving waste in and out of an illegal waste site in Fineshade, Northamptonshire.

BRC Haulage, of Cygnet Park, Hampton, Peterborough, and Robert Canavan, director of BRC Haulage, pleaded guilty to a number of charges at Northampton Magistrates Court on 9 June 2021. These were three charges of illegally depositing waste, and five charges of breaching their waste duty of care by failing to prepare waste transfer notes to document the nature of the waste leaving the site.

The illegal waste site they used at Monkton Sidings in Fineshade near Corby had no environmental permit and is operated by serial waste offender, Stephen Lack, who was jailed for 18 months in January this year.

The lack of environmental permit meant that waste was stored on the bare ground, placing land and water resources, including the neighbouring Fineshade Woods, at risk.

Environment Agency Lawyer Sarah Dunne told the court that waste transfer notes are necessary to ensure that waste is handled safely and correctly. BRC Haulage had many years of experience and knew that such documentation was required but didn’t take steps to record waste movements in and out of the Monkton Sidings site.

She also explained how they had prevented the Environment Agency from effectively regulating the site and, by depositing waste at an unpermitted site, had saved costs and fees.

Defending BRC Haulage and Robert Canavan, barrister Mauro Maselli said that the defendants apologised for their offending. He told the court that they had co-operated with the Environment Agency and had admitted the offences at an early stage.

Sentencing the defendants, the magistrates observed that this had been reckless offending. Fining the Company £5,000, BRC Haulage were told that they had been in business long enough to understand that they were working in a highly regulated industry and that Stephen Lack was not a lawful operator. The company was ordered to pay the Environment Agency’s costs of £4,128.

Robert Canavan, of Park Road, Peterborough in his capacity as a Director, was fined £768 and was ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £77.

Yvonne Daly, manager at the Environment Agency, said: “Illegal waste sites like Monkton Sidings are a blight on our environment, countryside and to communities and legitimate business.

“We would advise members of the public to make their own due diligence checks when choosing a waste carrier before there is any commercial contractual agreement.”