Scrap firm faced with £30,000 bill for offences

A BRADFORD scrap yard operator will have to pay more than 30,000 after admitting hazardous waste offences.

Bradford Waste Traders Limited pleaded guilty at the city’s magistrates’ court to six offences of failing to submit a quarterly return in respect of hazardous waste, one offence of failing to complete a consignment note for hazardous waste, and one offence of breaching an environmental permit by accepting unauthorised waste.

The company, of Newgate Works, Bowling Back Lane, Bradford, was fined 20,000 for the latter charge, with no separate penalty for the other offences.

BWT also was ordered to pay full prosecution costs of 8,549, a victim surcharge of 15 and compensation of 2,480, to cover fees avoided by failing to supply quarterly returns.

BWT director Richard Martin Gaunt, 54, of Main Street, Guiseley, was given a 12-month conditional discharge after pleading guilty to two offences relating to the failure of the company to submit quarterly returns for the Bowling Back Lane site.

The court heard that BWT runs three sites in Bradford – Newgate Works in Bowling Back Lane; premises in Dick Lane; and premises in Back Muff Street – where it receives hazardous waste such as end-of-life vehicles and car batteries.

Craig Burman, prosecuting for the Environment Agency, said last March environment officers visited all three sites with police to check compliance with the relevant environmental permits.

Environment officers found scrapped domestic appliances at the Bowling Back Lane site, a type of waste not authorised under the site’s environmental permit.

In mitigation, the court heard that BWT was a long-established Bradford business with generally sound work practices.

Neither the company nor Gaunt had any previous convictions for environmental offences. Both were given credit for early guilty pleas.